Philippines falls to Iraq anew in World Cup Qualifiers

The Philippines fell to Iraq anew, 5-0, in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, in front of a crowd of more than 10,000, on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

The loss, the second under new head coach Tom Saintfiet, came just days after Iran eked out a 1-0 win against the national men’s football team in Basra.

The Iraqis dominated the nationals early in the match as Aymen Hussein made the first goal at the 14’ mark off a penalty. Amir Fouad then doubled Iraq’s lead at the 30th minute, followed by another Hussein goal after seven minutes.

Iraq had the advantage at halftime, 3-0, before another goal by Zidane Iqbal at the 62’ put the Iraqis at 4-0. The pounding for the Iraqis continued as Zaid Tahseen Hantoosh scored Iraq’s fifth goal.

This is the Philippines’ fourth loss in this round of qualifiers following losses against Vietnam, Indonesia, and Iraq in Group F.

The nationals will next play Vietnam and Indonesia in June for the final window of this round.

Only the top two teams at the end of the round will advance to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and directly qualify to the 2027 Asian Cup.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News