THE Philippines defeated Fiji, 7-2, on Thursday in the first of two friendlies for the women’s football team in Sydney.
Filipinas vs Fiji recap
Quinley Quezada, Anicka Castaneda, and Tahnai Annis scored braces, and Dominique Randle notched her first international goal as the Filipinas won their first friendly during their training camp in Sydney.
The Filipinas are in Sydney as part of the preparations for the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam and the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Filipina booters opened scoring early despite rainy conditions at the pitch with a strike from Quezada, celebrating her 25th birthday, in the 13th minute.
Castaneda made it 2-0 in the 16th, while Randle extended the gap with another goal in the 35th.
Barrage of goals from PWNT followed with Annis (39th, 43rd) and Castaneda (44th) to end the first half with a 6-0 lead.
Quezada nailed her second goal in the 78th after the Philippines conceded two goals in the second half.
Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic said the focus was on the performance of the team in their first training camp back after that successful campaign in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
“The result was one thing but we’re looking at our performance. There were some good patches, some good moments but we were a bit rusty in some parts just because players were out for two months, not training in a team environment. Overall, it’s a good starting point for us.”
“We were a bit rusty on the ball as the match wore on. That's just a result of a couple of months out and just four to five days of training. But we’ll be working hard to ensure we get back to the levels where we were during the Asian Cup. We got another match on Monday and three more matches and another two weeks in camp before we fly to Vietnam. It’s really good preparation for the SEA Games,” said Stajcic.
The Philippines will play Fiji again on Monday to conclude their series of friendlies.
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