Philippines vs Brunei

The Philippines’ hopes of getting back to winning ways following a sluggish AFF Championship start pits them against Group A minnows Brunei at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

It’s been a dismal tournament start for the Philippines as they fell to an action-packed 3-2 defeat to Cambodia on matchday one despite hauling back an early 2-0 deficit. With their disastrous losing run in international football now standing at three matches, the ‘Street Dogs’ must build on their 100% H2H win ratio against Brunei (W2) if they’re to claw their way back into the progression race. Anything other than victory in this must-win clash would likely condemn the Philippines to back-to-back AFF Championship group-stage eliminations for the first time since a run of six between 1996 and 2007. Yet, safe in the knowledge they’ve ousted Brunei without conceding in both previous international H2Hs, Josep Ferre’s men will relish their chances of winning their first game since a 1-0 beating of Mongolia in June.

On the other hand, Brunei’s hopes of making it out of the AFF Championship group phase in their maiden appearance at the tournament took a fatal blow on day one, with Thailand thrashing them 5-0 in their Group A opener. Massive underdogs in this fixture, the ‘Hornets’ have suffered 13 defeats across their 14 previous outings on foreign soil (D1), including seven in a row ahead of this encounter, worryingly conceding 20 goals during that seven-match sequence. Equally uninspiring on the other side of the pitch, Mario Rivera’s lads have failed to trouble the scoreboard three times across their last four international travels, suggesting another multi-goal margin loss could be on the cards.