With a team that was formed barely a month before the competition, winless Team Philippines ended at the bottom of the team standings as it bowed to Bangladesh, 0-1, yesterday to cap its dismal performance in the Asian Football Confederation Under-16 Group E Qualifier at Pana-ad Stadium football pitch in Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod City .

With AFC and Philippine Football Federation officials and representatives watching from the bleachers, the host team failed to stop Bangladesh defender Zaman Farhadur from scoring the lone goal that lifted his team past host RP XI.

Falling short of the expectations of the loyal Negrense crowd that trooped to Pana-ad to watch the nationals play against the foreign teams, the nationals' inexperience and lack of exposure to international matches were evident in all of their four games.

“We only had three-week of camp and we never had an exposure to an international game,” head coach Glenn Ramos from Cebu earlier told sportswriters covering the tournament.

Japan blew out RP XI, 12-0, on opening day while Chinese Taipei beat the host team, 4-1, in their Day 2 encounter. Allen Shane Belera of Don Bosco Technical Institute of Victorias City was the lone bright spot for the Philippine squad as he scored the one and only goal the team posted in the tournament.

Against Indonesia , the Filipinos were once again overpowered by the more aggressive Indons, 9-0.

Buoyed by the win against RP XI, Indonesia caught Chinese Taipei unaware in yesterday's first game as Purwa Putra booted in the winning goal late in the game.

In post-game interview, Indonesian coach Bambang Nurdiansyah praised his players for coming up with a good performance in the tournament despite having only 10 days of preparation due to their observance of the Ramadan.

Nurdiansyah said their players belong to one school and they had been playing together for more than a year now.

Against powerhouse Japan tomorrow, he expressed hopes that the Indons will play have their chance of securing the second slot to qualify in the AFC U16 Championship set next year in Nepal.*NAB

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