QUINLEY Quezada is upbeat that the Philippine women’s football team will be at its best when they make their first-ever appearance on the world stage as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off next week.
Quinley Quezada on Filipinas' World Cup debut
Already in Auckland, New Zealand, where they are based for the competition, Quezada said that the team is right where they want to be less than a week removed from their opening game against Switzerland on July 21.
“Yeah, I think there’s been a huge growth from when we started camp up until now. It’s all been really positive.” Quezada said.
“You know, there’s some things that we still need to learn, some things we still need to improve on, but as of now, I can really see us going to the tournament at our peak, at our strongest. So I’m really excited about that.”
Before they officially walk onto the pitch in the World Cup, the Filipinas will have a litmus test against World No. 3 Sweden in a closed-door friendly on Monday, July 17.
There, Quezada hopes to measure herself against world class opposition.
“Individually I just want to see how I perform against top opposition. You know, their speed of play is really intense, really high, they’re really physical, so I wanna see how I can match up with that.” she said.
“And then, also, team-wise as well, we’re just trying to, you know, see the situations that we get into, see how we can grow from it, how we can learn. And we’ll take what we can learn from that game and bring [them] to our World Cup matches.”
Quezada banners the 23-woman lineup set to represent the Philippines in the sport’s biggest stage.
Also in the lineup are the likes of Sarina Bolden, Hali Long, Tahnai Annis, Chandler and Olivia McDaniel, Sara Eggesvik, and newcomer Angela Beard.
Beard is Fil-Australian and will be playing in her first tournament with the Filipinas after previously playing with the Australia Matildas.
Quezada raved about her new teammate and what she brings to the table and the Filipinas’ backline.
“Angie’s coming in, she’s really helped with communication, with aggressiveness and so as a team, we’re very grateful to have her finally join the team.” she said.
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