Scrappy Beloya steals win in injury time

JAKARTA – After two heartbreaking defeats, the Philippine XI bounced back and took its turn to break one’s heart.

Bacolod’s Joshua Beloya saved the day for an undermanned Philippine side as the Under-23 Azkals hacked out a scintillating 3-2 escape act over Laos in the 26th Southeast Asian Games at the Lebak Bulus Stadium here yesterday.

Beloya knocked in two goals inside the three-minute injury time as Phl XI snatched victory from an impending defeat – its first after back-to-back losses – for three points in the standings.

The victory propelled the Filipinos to fourth place in Group B, which is jointly led by Myanmar (2-1-0) and Vietnam (2-1-0) with seven points, followed by Timor Leste (2-0-1) with six. Laos dropped to 0-1-2, sharing last place with Brunei (0-1-2) with one point.

It will still take a miracle, though, for the Filipino booters to make the crossover semifinals.

“It’s the craziest match in my life,” said Phl coach Michael Weiss referring to Beloya’s twin goals that bailed them out of imminent danger in the dying minutes.

“It’s unbelievable,” added Weiss of the heroics of Beloya, among the sub strikers who played in place of Matthew Hartmann, the team skipper, who wasn’t fielded in reportedly as a disciplinary action for a violation not confirmed by the team.

The U-23 Azkals take on Myanmar at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. Manila time) tomorrow in the same venue.

In its first two games versus Vietnam and Timor Leste, the Philippines broke the ice but later broke down for a pair of heartbreakers.

The Nationals had appeared headed for the same disappointing finish before Beloya came through with his endgame heroics.

The Philippines thus beat Laos for the first time in four meetings since 1995.

Fighting for pride more than trying to make it to the semifinals, the Azkals never gave up despite falling to a 1-2 deficit with only 10 men and the clock already pushing 90 minutes with three minutes of extra time.

Streaking from the left side, Beloya received an excellent pass from Mark Hartmann and flicked it in right at the 90th minute mark as the U-23 Azkals drew level and averted a third straight setback and outright elimination.

The date (11-11-11) could have been a lucky one for Phl’s No. 11 player Beloya as the stalwart from reigning national U-23 champ Negros Occidental found himself in good scoring position some two minutes later.

He eluded defender Konekham Inthammav then booted the game-winner in as the Pinoys survived Laos despite playing one-man down in the last 30 minutes when Patrick Hinrichsen was sent off for two successive yellow cards.

Phl XI also missed Carli de Murga, who sat out the match for his two cumulative yellow cards the previous game.

The U-23 Azkals got on the scoreboard first when Manny Ott struck at the seventh minute.

However, Laos’ scoring machine Lamnao Singto went to work from there and found the back of the net twice (38th and 46th), virtually digging a grave for the hapless Filipinos.

All that changed when No. 11 gave the Pinoys a lifeline near the end.               – With reports from Olmin Leyba