Booters battered, bruised

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines made its first appearance in Asian Games men’s football after 52 years and Uzbekistan was in no mood for a nice welcome-back treat.

With the Pinoy booters left with 10 men in the last 42 minutes, the Uzbeks capitalized and scored four goals to run away with a 5-1 romp in yesterday’s Group C opener at Nagoya City Minato Field.

Though disadvantaged in manpower after Gavin Muens was issued a red card at the 48th minute for pulling down Ollabergan Kalimov, the U23s managed to stay within striking distance of their rivals two-thirds of the way.

Martin Merino’s 62nd minute goal pulled the Filipinos to within 1-2 but that turned out to be their final say as the Uzbeks – fresh from their historic Olympic debut in Paris two years ago – went on a late scoring spree.

Saidumarkhon Saidnurullayev scored his second of the match at the 71st minute to restore a two-goal cushion then Ruziboy Fayzullaev and Mukhammedali Reimov took turns punching through the Philippine defense to complete a four-goal triumph.

Alas vs Great Wall

Meanwhile, the Alas Pilipinas women’s team assumes the chore of trying to tear down China’s great wall today at the start of volleyball competitions at the Okazaki Sogo Park Gym.

It’s the toughest possible opening assignment but the Pinay spikers are all pumped up and ready to go.

“We are mentally ready to face the Chinese. We’ll try our very best,” said Alas coach Taka Minowa, whose charges take on the dreaded Chinese two days after Gilas Pilipinas fared miserably against Team Dragon and kissed its title-retention bid goodbye.

Personnel-wise, the Filipinas are the complete underdogs in their 1 p.m. duel (Manila time) against the Chinese.

And then they also brace for a China squad that’s out for redemption after its heartbreaking runner-up finish at the AVC Continental Cup in its own home ground in Tianjin last month.

The Chinese were denied the gold by Thailand in the said meet, missing a ticket to the 2028 LA Olympics in the process.

Of course, an upset of titanic proportions against China will be the ideal result for Alas Women in the kickoff game of Pool B preliminaries.

But a loss won’t be fatal as the Pinay spikers can still advance to the quarterfinals if they can take care of business in the succeeding game against Kazakhstan tomorrow.

The top two in each of the four brackets will advance to the quarters and the Nationals hope they would be the ones to that.

Alas will be bannered by Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon, Eya Laure and Angel Canino while the other members of the squad are Niña Ytang, Mars Alba, Justine Jazareno, Dell Palomata, Amie Provido, Thea Gagate, Jia de Guzman and Shania Nitura.

The mission is to replicate, if not eclipse, the Philippines’ best finish in the quadrennial games in the sport at fourth in the 1962 Jakarta edition.

Alas looks to bring a breath of fresh air to a Philippine contingent that’s been struggling in the competitions held ahead of Saturday’s opening ceremonies.

Gilas’ 44-point loss to Team Dragon eliminated it from the quarterfinal picture the other day, leading to one gold lost in the delegation’s projected harvest.