AUCKLAND, New Zealand – The mindset of the Philippines in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup has been basically not just to participate but to win.
The start of that belief could be traced back to their friendly match against New Zealand last Sept. 6 where the Football Ferns came away with a 2-1 win even after the Filipinas scored a first-half goal from Sarina Bolden in Fullerton, California.
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Ten months after that friendly match, the Filipinas will once again face the Football Ferns in Wellington, this time, with a lot to play for in the Women’s World Cup. Ranked No. 26 in the world, New Zealand is fresh from its historic first win in the competition against Norway last Thursday.
Head coach Alen Stajcic looked back at that friendly match that may be uneventful to some, but he considers a significant part, perhaps even a turning point, of their build-up for the Fifa Women’s World Cup, a spot they earned with their semifinal finish in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
“I think that game was really important from our perspective in terms of what is one of the highest ranked teams we’ve played in a long time. We knew we’ve progressed a long way over the preceding 12 months,” said Stajcic.
Bolden scored that goal just before halftime, only for Meikayla Moore and Ali Riley, New Zealand’s team captain in the World Cup, to register two in the second half.
“We were leading in that game for a long time,” said Stajcic recalled.
But Stajcic acknowledged that the New Zealand match on Tuesday will be a different one from the September friendly. Nevertheless, the friendly played a vital role to where the Filipinas are right now.
“There is a different personnel in this game. New Zealand has four, five different players. So do we. We can’t look back on that game with any conviction and say it has relevance to this game,” said Stajcic, referring to the Fifa Women’s World Cup match.
“But that it did do for us, just personally, it showed that we can beat teams who are ranked in the 20s and we can compete with these teams. For the team, it’s really a watershed game in really lifting the belief to know that we can walk on this pitch and we have a chance in the game,” said Stajcic.
“Whereas I think before that time, we could play these games and hope that we can win but not really believe that we can win,” he added.
Believing that it can win is still different from actually winning and Stajcic is aware that the Filipinas will have to play a near perfect match in order to overcome New Zealand in the World Cup.
“We have to be at our best because we are the underdog in this tournament. We are the underdog in this tournament. We are the underdog in this group. We have to do everything right to give ourselves a chance,” said Stajcic.
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