Phil Younghusband is a former professional footballer who played as a forward for the Philippines national football team from 2006 to 2019. He scored 52 goals with the national team, making him the all-time top goalscorer for the Philippines. He is also the nation's most capped player, having appeared in 108 matches. Younghusband's tenure coincided with the resurgence of the national team. Younghusband retired in November 2019 at the age of 32, in part due to his relegation to the bench for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
Younghusband was first called up to the Philippines national under-23 football team in 2005 after a gamer discovered his Filipino eligibility while playing Football Manager and notified the Philippine Football Federation. Younghusband received his first senior team call-up the following year. In his second national team appearance, he scored his first four international goals against Timor-Leste during the 2007 AFF Championship qualification. His 12th international goal was scored against Vietnam in a match dubbed "The Miracle of Hanoi"Younghusband's goal secured a win for the underdog Philippines and sparked a football renaissance in the country. Younghusband's 50th international goal was a penalty kick against Tajikistan during the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification. The goal guaranteed the inclusion of the Philippines in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the highest level competition in the team's history.
Of Younghusband's 52 international goals, 15 were scored in the AFC Challenge Cup and its qualifiers, 14 in the AFF Championship and its qualifiers, 5 during AFC Asian Cup qualification, 2 during FIFA World Cup qualification, and 16 were scored in friendliesincluding minor international tournaments such as the Long Teng Cup and the Philippine Peace Cup. He scored more against Timor-Leste than any other team, with six goals. Fifty of Younghusband's international goals were scored against Asian Football Confederation nations while the remaining two goals came against teams from the Oceania Football Confederation. Younghusband scored a hattrick twice during his international career and in both instances, he scored four goals.
International goals Scores and results list the Philippines' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Younghusband goal. + Key Indicates goal was scored from a penalty kick
+International goals scored by Phil Younghusband Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 12 Panaad Stadium, Bacolod, Philippines 7–0 2007 AFF Championship qualification 2 3 4 54 Panaad Stadium, Bacolod, Philippines 4–1 6 7 7 Barotac Nuevo Plaza Field, Barotac Nuevo, Philippines 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification 88 National Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2–4 2010 Long Teng Cup 9 10 10 New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos 2010 AFF Championship qualification 11 11 New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos 12 14 Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam 2010 AFF Championship 13 18 Panaad Stadium, Bacolod, Philippines 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification 1421 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 4–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 15 16 24 National Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2011 Long Teng Cup 1728 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 4–0 Friendly 18 1931 Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal 2–0 2012 AFC Challenge Cup 20 21 32 Halchowk Stadium, Kathmandu 22 33 Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal 2334 Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal 4–3 24 25 35 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines Friendly 26 38 Jurong West Stadium, Jurong West, Singapore 27 39 Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait 28 43 Supachalasai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand 2012 AFF Championship 2947 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 8–0 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification 30 31 32 33 48 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 34 53 Kanchenjunga Stadium, Siliguri, India Friendly 35 58 National Football Stadium, Malé, Maldives 2014 AFC Challenge Cup 36 59 National Football Stadium, Malé, Maldives 37 62 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 2014 Philippine Peace Cup 38 63 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines Friendly 39 64 Grand Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar 40 66 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 41 67 Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam 2014 AFF Championship 42 68 Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam 43 84 Philippine Sports Stadium, Bocaue, Philippines 2016 AFF Championship 4487 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 4–1 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification 45 46 89 Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan 47 90 Panaad Stadium, Bacolod, Philippines 48 93 Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan 2017 CTFA International Tournament 49 96 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines Friendly 50 97 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila, Philippines 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification 51 98 Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain Friendly 52 101 Kuala Lumpur Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2018 AFF Championship
International statistics
+ Caps and goals by yearYearCapsGoals2006 4 62007 0 02008 3 12009 0 02010 10 52011 11 62012 17 102013 8 62014 18 82015 7 02016 7 12017 10 52018 10 42019 3 0 Total 108 52
+ Caps and goals by competition Competition Caps Goals Friendlies 43 16 AFC Asian Cup 3 0 FIFA World Cup/AFC Asian Cup qualifiers 15 7 AFF Championship 24 6 AFF Championship qualifiers 7 8 AFC Challenge Cup 9 8 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers 7 7Total 108 52
+ Caps and goals by opposition Opposition Caps Goals 4 6 5 5 5 5 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 7 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 5 1 5 1 8 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 4 0 6 0Total 108 52
See also List of top international association football goal scorers by country List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals List of footballers with 100 or more caps
References