THE Philippines starts its AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign on Sunday with a match against Saudi Arabia at the National Sports Complex of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
Kick-off is at 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Philippine time).
The Filipinas begin their quest to rekindle their magical run in the last Asian Cup in 2022 where they reach the semifinals to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the very first time in history.
The Asian Cup in 2026 to be held in Australia remains as a qualification tournament for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, making the Cambodia tilt as an important first step for the Filipinas in their bid to return to the biggest stage of women’s football.
Only the top team in each of the eight groups will advance to the Asian Cup. The Philippines is in Group H with Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and host Cambodia.
Filipinas optimistic in Cambodia
“The girls are very, very focused on the plan ahead, and that’s to come here and get three points in each of the games,” said Philippines head coach Mark Torcaso.
“We are enjoying our time here in Cambodia but really focused to get three points in each of the games to make sure that we qualify.”
The Philippines is the marked team of the group, having qualified for the Women’s World Cup, and the highest-ranked squad in the group at No. 41 by FIFA.
Still, Torcaso isn’t taking the qualification stage lightly.
“Every opponent has got their own specialties I guess to some extent, and their own qualities. And for us, it’s just going to be about focusing on what we do. We will do our absolute best to make sure that we implement a plan that’s come through over the last sort of three to six months. But we’ll also do what we need to do to make sure that we get a result.”
“That’s our focus, we are here to qualify and we want to make sure that we do the best that we can. But we want to make sure that we implement a style that we’ve been focused on, and that will hold up in these three games. All three opponents are different, but we’re really determined to look after what we've done and play the way that we've been focusing on,” the Australia mentor also said.
Sarina Bolden and Katrina Guillou, two vital cogs in the Filipinas’ World Cup bid, will miss the qualification stage, but several holdovers led by Quinley Quezada are with the team.
In the build-up for the qualifiers, the Philippines lost a pair of matches to Chinese Taipei, 1-0, including one official international friendly at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last June 3.
“We don't take any team lightly,” said Filipinas team captain Hali Long after the friendly against Taiwan. “Even our inner squads and our small set of games get really intense. Hopefully, we can keep good momentum going into Cambodia and make up for this loss because I think we just fell short.”
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