Philippines coach hopes to redeem themselves at ASEAN Cup

Carles Cuadrat, head coach of the Philippines national team, expressed caution and optimism about his team's ability to recover from their loss in the opening match of the ASEAN Hyundai Cup 2026, as they prepare to face Laos in Vientiane on August 1st in Group B.

The team, which has reached the semi-finals five times, lost 1-4 at home to Myanmar in Clark on Tuesday. Coach Cuadrat is determined to help his players quickly regain form to keep their hopes of advancing to the next round alive.

"The 1-4 home defeat is a very disappointing result," the Spanish tactician shared.

"We have reviewed the match footage and are trying to understand what we need to change to be more competitive.

The positive thing is that the matches are very close together. Just three days after that defeat, we have another chance to earn three points, and that is the team's goal."

Philippines reached the semi-finals of the 2024 tournament despite a slow start in the group stage, and Cuadrat believes his team can make amends after the loss to Myanmar.

"We want to put in a good performance, understand the demands of the match, and try to win.

If we win, we will have three points after two matches. In the previous tournament, we only had two points after the first two games.

So just one win can significantly change the situation. We also remember that the match in Laos in 2024 ended in a 1-1 draw. We know Laos will be a tough opponent and we respect them greatly, but our goal is to take all three points."

On the other side, the Laos team enters the match after two consecutive defeats, losing 0-5 to Thailand and then 0-4 to Malaysia. Coach Vladica Grujić knows that his players will face another big challenge on Saturday.

"It's not easy to stay optimistic after two losses, but we have to face reality and properly assess the strength of the opponents we faced in the first two matches.

Now we will host Philippines at home. We will fight and do everything to bring joy to the fans.

We have lost the first two matches and now we want to earn points in front of our home fans. Although the results have not been good, the players' spirit is still very positive. Tomorrow, we will see how that is shown on the pitch.

Everyone also needs to understand that it is not easy to beat teams that are about 50 places higher than us in the FIFA rankings. However, in football, anything can happen."