John Franklin Kennedy Caacbay

Philippine men's national football team's Bjorn Kristensen in action against Tajikistan on June 10, 2025 at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

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Philippine men's national football team

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1749624061526Media.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Philippine men&#x27;s national football team&#x27;s Bjorn Kristensen in action against Tajikistan in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10, 2025 at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</div>CAPAS, Tarlac – Bjorn Kristensen reflected on his stellar performance so far for the Philippine men&#x27;s national football team on Tuesday night against Tajikistan.Kristensen, at 23 years old, has been stamping his class with the national squad, already scoring eight international goals in ten months or since joining in September 2024.He first scored in October last year in the 2024 King&#x27;s Cup against Thailand and was the culprit of the Philippines&#x27; three goals at the 2024 ASEAN Championship.The KFUM Oslo standout also netted two out of the Philippines&#x27; four goals in their game against Maldives earlier this year in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/5/27/ph-names-squad-for-crucial-asian-cup-qualifier-vs-tajikistan-1659">READ: PH names squad for crucial Asian Cup qualifier vs. Tajikistan </a></div>Displaying modesty, the young gunner shrugged off all comparisons to the national team&#x27;s all-time leading scorer Phil Younghusband.Two days before the country&#x27;s Independence Day, when Pinoy heroes are celebrated, the Filipino-Norwegian forward insisted he&#x27;s no hero or yet he&#x27;s years away from being one despite rising as seventh top goalscorer for the national team in just 13 appearances, tying Mark Hartmann and Misagh Bahadoran.&quot;I don&#x27;t think I&#x27;m a hero yet,&quot; said Kristensen. &quot;I&#x27;m still young, there&#x27;s a lot of good players here in the national team... Kiki, Younghusbands also.&quot;&quot;I don’t think I’m a hero now, maybe we’ll see 10, 15 years,&quot; he added.It was Kristensen who lifted the Philippines in front of a 10,854-strong crowd against Tajikistan, scoring twice (28&#x27;, 79&#x27;) in both the first and second halves of the match, converting a header and grabbing his brace for a 2-2 draw.However, Kristensen believed that they could have stolen the game from the visiting squad.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/6/10/football-ph-salvages-draw-vs-tajikistan-in-asian-cup-qualifier-2111">READ: Football: PH salvages draw vs. Tajikistan in Asian Cup qualifier </a></div>&quot;No, I feel we should win this game. I don&#x27;t think we did show up in the first half and we could we did our best to bounce back and luckily, we got the point,&quot; he said.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/3/25/afc-ph-scores-convincing-win-vs-maldives-in-asian-cup-qualifiers-opener-2102">READ: AFC: Philippines scores convincing win vs. Maldives in Asian Cup Qualifiers </a></div>Kristensen apologized for not winning the game, but thanked the thousands of Pinoy fans who put into effort flocking to the Capas stadium and supporting the team.&quot;It means a lot; not only for me but the whole team. So many of them have traveled far away from Manila and all over the country,&quot; Kristensen said.&quot;So, I want to thank them for coming, and sorry for not winning this game,&quot; he went on.

"I don't think I'm a hero yet," said Bjorn Kristensen. "I'm still young, there were a lot of good players here in the national team... Kiki, Younghusbands also."

"I don't think I'm a hero yet," said Bjorn Kristensen. "I'm still young, there were a lot of good players here in the national team... Kiki, Younghusbands also."

Football: Kristensen downplays 'hero' tag after brace against Tajikistan

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Football: Kristensen downplays 'hero' tag after brace against Tajikistan

Kennedy Caacbay,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jun 11, 2025 03:44 PM PHT

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Philippine men's national football team

Bjorn Kristensen

AFC Asian Cup qualifiers

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