AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Katrina Guillou sprinted to the general vicinity of the Philippine women's football team bench to celebrate early in their match in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup against Switzerland.
That proved to be short-lived as the team later learned that the goal was nullified due to an offside, erasing what could have been the first goal of what has already been a historic campaign for the Philippines in the Women’s World Cup.
See Filipinas in high spirits ahead of match vs New Zealand in Women's World Cup
“Jubilation. Pure ecstatic. So happy. But short-lived. It was definitely offside. Wishing it was on,” said Filipinas striker Sarina Bolden, when asked what she felt when Guillou scored and was later called for an offside.
The Filipinas though are turning that moment into a fuel to be hungrier and do better to make that win in the world stage a reality.
“But just to even get that little taste of what it might feel like when we do score our first goal, I think, makes it even more hungry to get it because we felt it for a little bit,” Bolden added. “We want to be able to hold on to it and cherish it. Hoping that we could get that against New Zealand.”
They will be in search of that first goal and, more important, a win when the Filipinas face co-host New Zealand on Tuesday at the Wellington Regional Stadium.
Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic also looks at the Guillou offside in a positive manner and acknowledged that that team will have to earn it in the next matches in order for the goal to come.
Stajcic admitted that the Filipinas remain a work in progress on offense against the best in the world.
“It was offside. But it’s a moment that shows that we can be dangerous at this level. We have two or three little moments in the game that were dangerous. But for us as a team, as we’ve known the last two years, we need to be better on the ball. We need to be better on offense,” said Stajcic.
“I think our defense is world-class. I think our defense can stand up to any team as we’ve shown over the last 18 months. But really, it’s our offense that we need to improve over time. But that doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a hard process to get the touch and the combination. That takes months and years. We are well on track. But there’s good moments in the game against a really, really high-quality team,” said Stajcic.
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