With his mother watching him in action for the first time in five years, Reichelt made it a perfect moment by scoring a header off a defensive lapse by Guam's Scott Leon Guerrero to give a sparse Azkals crowd something to cheer about.
Behind the heroics of Reichelt, who came in for Ian Araneta in the 65th minute, the Filipino booters avoided what could have been a lousy draw to take the early lead in the four-nation tournament.
Earlier, Yang Chao Sun scored on a penalty kick in the 90th minute to help Taiwan force a 2-all tie with Macau.
The breakthrough goal of the Fil-German began when Jeff Christiansens booted a long corner to Jason Sabio, who then attempted to score a long header.
Guerrero was able to deflect the shot into the air but as he watched the flight of the ball, Reichelt made an alert move by leaping over the Macao defender for the only goal of the match.
"It's a dream come true," said Reichelt, whose Filipina mom came to Manila as part of her two-week vacation to watch her son play.
The match, however, saw an inconsistent, sometimes sloppy play from the Azkals, who also entered the tournament minus charismatic brothers Phil and James Younghusband due to monetary and commitment issues.
Araneta, Chieffy Caligdong, Denis Wolf and Carli de Murga blew a number of chances to score, highlight a night where the Azkals attempted 10-of-19 their shots on goal.
"I'm happy with the result. I'm not happy with the game but I think we can be better," said coach Michael Weiss.
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