The ASEAN U-23 Championship title will not be up for grabs at Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta on Monday evening.
That decider will be played a day later and contested by two-time defending champions Vietnam and hosts Indonesia.
Monday's clash between Philippines and Thailand will simply be for third-place honours.
Yet, it could still be a significant achievement for Philippines should they emerge triumphant, considering they were not expected by man to have gotten this far.
With all due respect to Philippines, they were not among the likely final four candidates ahead of the tournament -- officially known as the ASEAN U-23 Mandiri Cup 2025.
Once they produced a massive upset in the opening game to beat Malaysia 2-0, it quickly became apparent this Philippines side meant business.
A narrow loss to Indonesia, which only came courtesy of an own-goal, and a steady-if-unspectacular 2-0 win over Brunei Darussalam was enough to see them advance from the group stage.
Again underdogs on Friday in their semifinal against Vietnam, Philippines actually took the lead but ultimately lacked the experience and quality to match it with their more-seasoned opponents -- who would fight back to claim a spot in the final with a 2-1 victory.
- Catch all the ASEAN U-23 Championship action live on the ASEAN United FC YouTube channel here!
So while Philippines will not be going all the way on their fairy tale run, they can still issue a massive statement by finishing third -- for the first time in an ASEAN Football Federation men's tournament at any level.
In fact, excluding the senior team, this is the first time Philippines have made it out of the group stage across the AFF's three age-group levels of U-23, U-19 and U-16.
There has long been conversation surrounding Philippines' sudden rise -- which started in 2010 -- being a direct result of an initiative to recruit heritage players born and raised abroad, although they are far from the only ones in the region to do so.
As critics argued that this was not the way forward when it came to long-term sustainability, Philippines' poor displays at age-group level went some way in reinforcing that notion.
Granted, even at this U-23 Championship, a number of overseas-raised players are leading the way for Philippines.
Midfield dynamo Javier Mariona and leading scorer Otu Banatao are both based in the United States, anchorman Gavin Muens also had an American upbringing before since moving to ply his trade in the Philippines Football League, while outstanding goalkeeping prospect Nicholas Guimarães is learning his craft via Japan's university ranks.
But there are others like Uriel Dalapo, Jaime Rosquillo and Ziggy Taningco who have been nurtured entirely in Philippines.
While their professional and grassroots game still pales in comparison to some of their regional counterparts, which is understandable considering football is far from one of the nation's major sports, there has been considerable improvement.
Compare this to a time when it was a straightforward task to identify the players who had spent their entire development in Philippines, who were normally the usual suspects such as Amani Aguinaldo or Patrick Deyto.
Even at the most recent ASEAN Championship, when Philippines returned to the semifinals for the first time in four years, there were the likes of Aguinaldo, Deyto and Jarvey Gayoso representing the homegrown continengent.
There is also the supremely-talented Sandro Reyes, who grew up entirely in Philippines until he received a scholarship with the academy of LaLiga giants Barcelona at the age of just nine.
Philippines will continue to be led by their heritage imports, but their homegrown talent is being increasingly prominent.
Once minnows of the region, Philippines are now a side that has now reached the semifinals in five of the last eight editions of the ASEAN Championship.
They are on the right track even if their progress has been less rapid and more of a slow and steady nature.
A third-place finish at the ASEAN U-23 Championship, against Thai opposition who have long been viewed as the standard bearers of Southeast Asian football, will provide further evidence that they are trending in the right direction.
And that could feel as much of a win as actually claiming the title.