Philippines coach speaks candidly after home loss to Thailand, resulting in elimination from ASEAN Cup 2026.
"Philippines coach" expresses regret over losing to "Thailand" at home and being eliminated from ASEAN Cup 2026.
Carles Cuadrat, coach of the Philippines national team, stated that his team should have earned at least one point after conceding a late goal, narrowly losing 0-1 to Thailand in the ASEAN Cup 2026 football tournament.
Cuadrat said, “It's unfortunate the players didn't earn at least one point because if they had, they could have gone to Malaysia to repeat what happened in the last ASEAN tournament (2024), where they needed to win in Indonesia—and the team succeeded.”
In this match, the Philippines switched to a 4-1-4-1 formation, emphasizing defensive strength to cope with Thailand, who had scored 7 goals without conceding in their first two matches.
Cuadrat commented on this, “We changed the system because we knew the danger posed by Thailand. They scored many goals and didn't concede, so we planned to create chances in the first half by allowing them to keep possession and trying to exploit the space behind their left and right backs.”
The tactical adjustment by the Philippines worked fairly well, but in the end, they left space for Thailand to deliver crosses, leading to Waris heading in the winning goal in the 84th minute.
Cuadrat said, "We practiced to avoid leaving open spaces, but we allowed them room to cross. I think the team was very tired at that point, and we couldn’t keep a clean sheet. It's unfortunate because I believe they gave their all to earn at least one point but were unsuccessful."
In their next match, Thailand will play Myanmar, ranked 158th in the world, in the fourth group B game of the ASEAN Cup 2026 at Rajamangala Stadium on 8 August 2026 at 20:00 Thailand time.