TWO friendly matches with the Japan national team will be part of the Filipina5’s preparations for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 which the Philippines will host from November 21 to December 7.
Head coach Rafa Merin said the matches against the world No. 5 will be a big test for the Filipinas5 side that is now training in the country for the tournament’s inaugural edition.
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Japan will also be in action in Group C along with Portugal, Tanzania, and New Zealand.
“We are training a lot now. We are going to play 23 players to Japan for a training camp and two friendlies. We are looking to do another training camp if everything goes well,” said the Spanish coach through a translator.
Philippine Football Federation president John Gutierrez said the training camps will come during the final stretch of the build-up.
“Tuluy-tuloy lang ang pag-eensayo nila. We are preparing all the way until the first game. We are bringing the girls to Japan and possibly Indonesia and Vietnam for the final preparation,” said Gutierrez.
Merino said he has seen growth from the national team since it started out at the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup qualifiers last January.
“It’s always good to play friendlies. I think the qualification for the AFC Asian Cup has been really useful so that the team can see and correct the errors,” said Merino.
The Philippines will play Group A games against Poland on November 21 and against Morocco on November 24, before wrapping up the preliminaries versus world No. 6 Argentina on November 27.
“Scouting is important but most important is we focus on ourselves. We want to be competitive. If we want to make good games, we have to focus on ourselves and what we need to do,” said Merino.
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