AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Filipinas head coach Alen Stajcic isn’t worried about the team being too much on a high after their historic victory in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup last Tuesday against New Zealand.
Stajcic said the team over the past few days has been doing an excellent job of keeping themselves in focus for the final group stage match against Norway.
Though this is only their first World Cup, Stajcic said the Filipinas have enough experience to know what it takes to regroup after one important milestone after the other.
“The lucky thing that we’ve been together for 18 months now, we’ve been to four or five different tournaments or qualifiers. We’ve learned the routine of how to refocus whether it’s a good result or whether it’s a bad result,” said Stajcic on Friday following their training at the Olympic Park.
“That’s really one of the strengths of this team. We are able to refocus so quickly. There’s a real sense of maturity around this team, around that process. It’s one of the real strengths of this team,” said Stajcic.
The Philippines’ landmark 1-0 win over New Zealand has produced a lot of attention not only back home but all over the world, as proven by the amount of journalists and news agencies that have written about the feat of the team last Tuesday.
Stajcic said they are more worried about the next match against Norway more than any other. A place in the round-of-16 with a win would be enough for the Filipinas to stay grounded and not looking to far ahead.
READ: Stajcic still wary of 'wounded animal' Norway ahead of Filipinas match
“At this point in time, we reflect on what the world thinks of us later on. But at the moment, we are just worried about the task at hand. That’s enough of an issue. We are worried about our opponent and ensuring that we are in good health and in a good mindset as well. You’ve got to block out all that other stuff and noise. But there’s good noise or bad noise. We just don’t need all of that at the moment in terms of the group,” said Stajcic.
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