Philippine Football Federation general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes on Sunday thanked the Philippine Sports Commission for allowing the PFF to stage the Group A matches of the Filipinas in the 12th Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
“On behalf of PFF president Mariano Araneta Jr., the PFF would like to express our gratitude to PSC executive director and officer-in-charge Atty. Guillermo Iroy for allowing the use of the Rizal Memorial Stadium as a main venue of the AFF Women’s Championship,” Gastanes said.
“Thanks to the collaboration and cooperation of the PSC, we are now able to bring the games of the Filipinas closer to their hometown fans, inspiring them to do better with each performance inside this heritage-rich football arena,” the PFF general secretary noted.
“The PFF and the PSC have been key partners in the promotion of the beautiful game in the country with the Rizal Memorial Stadium as the venue of the matches of our national teams, including the Azkals,” Gastanes added. “We continue to look forward to this fruitful partnership with the PSC.”
“We hope that our local fans will continue to flock to the Rizal Memorial Stadium in droves and cheer for the Filipinas, hopefully, all the way to the championship match while achieving another milestone for themselves and the country,” he exhorted.
Before the AFF Women’s Championship, the last time the historic venue was used for the sport was the 2019 30th Southeast Asian Games football men’s and women’s football tournaments.
Meanwhile, defending Vietnam and Myanmar seek to chalk up their third straight wins to formally clinch semifinal slots against separate foes today in Group B action at the Binan Stadium Laguna.
Both the heavy favorites to prevail, the Burmese take on the Laotians at 4 p.m. while the Vietnamese face the Timorese in the 7 p.m. nightcap.
Although both have six points, Myanmar holds a slim lead on goal difference over Vietnam—plus-10 to the latter’s plus-8 —so both squads need to pile up more goals before their showdown on Wednesday to decide the group topnotcher.
