The PWNT's effect on grassroots football, as explained by PH coaches

What a 2022 it's been for our booters
Sep 7, 2022
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The PWNT celebrates at the sidelines of the AFF Cup last July.
PHOTO: Marlo Cueto

IT ONLY took a penalty kick from Sarina Bolden to end a 42-year drought for the Philippines’ Women's Football Team last January.

The team's 4-3 finish at the AFC Women’s Asia Cup in Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India will forever go down in history, with the PH team qualifying to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Their ledger of achievements didn't stop there.

What followed was a bronze medal finish in the Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam after defeating Myanmar, 2-1 — a podium finish that was their first in 37 years.

Just last month, the Pinay booters found their way to another historic win after winning their first-ever championship in the AFF Women’s Football Championship on home soil, eliminating the defending champions Thailand. It was a memorable win at home for the 8,000 Filipino football fans who witnessed history at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

UP Football head coach Anto Gonzales told Spin.ph that the women’s team qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup “definitely makes them dream to reach it one day,” adding that it provides them with a bigger purpose and goal in playing.

Robert Manlulo, Ateneo women’s football coach, said that the podium finish is a good indication that “we are improving our program but on a short time frame only.”

Coach Benj Anicete, a football coach at Claret School of Quezon City said that the Philippine women’s football team “seems so driven to carry on the task and seek more glory for our country.”

“They have obviously a good coach, very likely a good management and players physically gifted coupled with big fighting hearts.”

Now with the AFF Championships ticked off the team’s to-do list, they now steer their focus to the bigger stage, the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

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    What PWNT can focus on, according to these football coaches

    As the date draws closer to the biggest stage in football, Gonzales ticked off three things: “Longer preparation, cohesiveness, and fitness.”

    Meanwhile, the Ateneo women’s head coach said that the team should be conditioned to play in international tournaments and should have more training camps. (At present, at least 27 members of the PWNT are at a training camp in Irvine, California, most recently facing off against New Zealand in a friendly.)

    Manlulo commented, “For the player selection, the profile should be different for this tournament. Players must be physically much stronger (body, height, and speed),” as well as “more technically and tactically superior in the highest level of games.”

    Meanwhile, Anicete switches tack, and hopes, instead, that one day we have a squad composed of all-homegrown talents, adding the help of players who had playing experiences in the US in the likes of Mary Rose Obra, Santiago and Cablan.

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    “What is important for now is to put the country on the football map as this will spur football development in the country,” he said.

    Impact of the Pinoy booters' victory

    Just like in 2010, when the Philippine Azkals pulled off the “Miracle of Hanoi”, the lady booters went up 2-0 to defeat the Vietnamese football team in the AFF Championships.

    That win, already more than a decade in the past, became the start of the resurgence of football in the country. Youngsters looked up to the PH football squad.

    Fast forward to 12 years later. Will the woman's football team have the same impact on grassroots football?

    For Manlulo, the win of any team will always bring a big impact on the sports, especially on the grassroots and the youth level.

    “It will open up opportunities and possibilities for them to aspire and achieve the highest level of the sports,” he said.

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    While Gonzales also believes that the PWNT's historic win provides collegiate players with a bigger purpose and goal, he also points out what he says is a sad reality: Homegrown players find it hard to associate themselves with Filipina booters who were born and raised abroad and have very different backgrounds and football development pathways.

    As for players themselves?

    Micha Santiago, a member of the Philippines Under-18 Women’s Team, said that she is personally inspired to “continue to work harder to be able to represent the flag one day and be part of the Philippines women’s football team.”

    Meanwhile, Jenizel Cablan, a former UST women’s football player and part of the Philippine Malditas said that those who aspire to play football in the future gives them the motivation to play hard and not give up.

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    The PWNT celebrates at the sidelines of the AFF Cup last July.
    PHOTO: Marlo Cueto
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