HO CHI MINH CITY, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Thailand was crowned champion of the ASEAN zone AFC U14 Girls Championship 2014 after beating the Philippines 2-1 here on Sunday.
The Thai girls were fast and skilled, and also very physical. They took every opportunity to deliver barely legal blows on the field of play and scored goals at the 11th and 20th minutes.
The Philippines returned from a soul-searching half time break to rally in the second half. The hard fighting Filipino girls started delivering some hard shots of their own, and moved the action to the Thailand side of the field. Arantxa Mari Trebol of Cebu City scored the first goal for her team at the 51st minute.
The Philippines battled it out until the last seconds, nearly scoring on multiple occasions but the fast and fierce Thai girls were able to hold onto their lead.
The final encounter wrapped up in 2-1 scores, lifting Thailand to be champion of the tournament.
In the previous third-fourth placing match, host Vietnam defeated Myanmar 3-1 to take the third place and leave Myanmar as the fourth.
The Philippines took the Fair Play Award from the tournament, which recognizes the team with "greatest respect for the game." The Best Player of the tournament was also from the Philippines: midfielder Joyce Demacio, who scored clutch goals and crucial saves in every game.
The AFC's U14 Girls Regional Championship 2014 is being held in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City from June 10 to 15, with participation of seven teams from Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. They are divided into two groups and play in the round-robin format.