Philippines slay rivals Vietnam, but crash out of regional games

In an at-times-rough encounter, Thi Bich Thuy Nguyen cancelled out Sarina Bolden's converted penalty in the fist half, before Filipinas captain Hali Long secured the three points with an 82nd-minute goal.

But that proved insufficient, as Myanmar battered Malaysia 5-1 in the other Group A game to progress as runners-up to Vietnam, San Thaw Thaw and July Kyaw with a brace each. The Philippines' next major engagement will be the World Cup in July and August in Australia and New Zealand.

And coach Alen Stajcic said beating one of Asia's top teams for the second time in a row - after a 4-0 win over Vietnam last year - showed "we can compete at this level". "The next step of our evolution is to do it every game," he said, after a group stage hobbled by a 1-0 opening loss to Myanmar.

"It's still a very, very young team. I know that we've got a lot more good times ahead of us." In Group B, Thailand and Cambodia were set to battle it out for first and second place later on Tuesday, to see who will face Vietnam and Myanmar in the semi-finals.

Singapore and Laos, both already eliminated, will face off for third place.