The Philippine national men’s football team gets a shot at redemption when it battles struggling Laos in the ASEAN Championship on Saturday at the New Laos National Stadium in Vientiane.

Game time is set for 6 p.m. (Manila time) with the Nationals looking not only to pick up their first win but also eliminate the Laotians from contention in this prestigious regional competition.

The Philippines’ campaign got off to a flat start after suffering a 1-4 loss to Myanmar last Tuesday at the New Clark City Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.

The Laotians, on the other hand, are struggling in the tournament, absorbing a 0-5 defeat to Thailand on home soil last Saturday before falling to Malaysia, 0-4, last Tuesday at Kuala Lumpur Stadium.

Philippines’ head coach Carles Cuadrat said the Nationals need to be stronger defensively, especially when defending set pieces such as free kicks and corner kicks.

“On the other hand, we also have to be honest and understand that to win games you have to be very strong defensively. If we look at the two goals we conceded in the first half, they were not what we had been working on,” Cuadrat said.

“Until now, under me, we had not been conceding from set pieces — no free kicks, no corners, only one penalty against us. I told the guys that we have to keep working on that structure.”

With a goal difference of -3 and sitting in fourth place in Group B, the Philippines will need to score plenty of goals to keep its hopes alive of securing one of the top two spots and advancing to the semifinals.

The Nationals will rely on the likes of Jarvey Gayoso, Martini Rey and Pocholo Bugas to provide the scoring punch.

For Gayoso, who scored the Philippines’ lone goal against Myanmar, the loss should serve as a test of character as the team moves forward in the ASEAN Championship.

“We have a lot of young guys who will go through a lot of experiences like this. And we’ve proven it before with the last campaign. I think this will be a good lesson for everybody. We just have to take it on the chin and pick ourselves up,” Gayoso said.

“Because the talent is there. Everybody knows how to play really good football. And we believe in this team. So, from here, it’s just taking these lessons and taking these errors we’ve made and being able to adjust in the next game.”