China PR hammers Azkals 8-1 in international friendly

MANILA, Philippines－The Philippine national football team succumbed to a heavy 1-8 defeat against the 82nd ranked China PR in an international friendly match on Wednesday, June 7 at the Tianghe Stadium in Guangzhou, China. 

The Chinese squad hit the scoreboard right away, scoring its first point off a header by defender Ren Hang at the 3rd minute of the match. The team managed to add two more to the tally at halftime, before continuing the offensive onslaught in the next half.

Misagh Bahadoran scored the lone goal for the Philippines at the 33rd minute through a tap-in. The Azkals winger, however, went down with an injury as he was seen clutching his knee late in the second half. Bahadoran was stretchered off the field and wasn’t on the field for match’s conclusion. 

The game marked the two teams’ first meeting in 17 years－ their last face-off dating back to 2000 when China also demolished the Philippine football team, 8-0 in the AFC Cup. (READ: Azkals learn to live without mainstays for tough China, Tajikistan games)

The Azkals are coming off a huge 4-1 victory against Nepal last March to start their AFC Asian Cup qualifiers campaign. They will next face Tajikistan on June 13 at 11 pm (Manila time).－Rappler.com