THERE is optimism around the Philippine women’s football squad even after the end of their 19th Asian Games campaign on Saturday.
Looking at the big picture, Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso said the team produced good results in only their first tournament following a transition last August. He he took over the position left by Alen Stajcic following the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
See Filipinas bow out of Asian Games after blowout loss to Japan
The Filipinas dropped an 8-1 decision to Japan on Saturday to close their Asiad debut. But Torcaso said the overall Asian Games experience is very valuable as they move on to the next tournament this month, the second round of the Olympic qualifiers.
The second round of the Olympic qualifiers will feature the Filipinas playing three matches including Australia, a World Cup semifinalist, on October 29.
“This was an amazing opportunity for us to work with the group of players that we only had maybe four or five trainings with. So for us to get the good results that we got, we are very happy to get two wins, two losses against two very good teams. We were extremely happy,” said Torcaso during a media availability before leaving from China at the close of their campaign.
Torcaso highlighted the team getting opportunities to play Japan in the quarterfinals and Korea in the group stage, both highly-rated teams that also saw action in the World Cup, and beating Southeast Asia perennial rival Myanmar as silver linings in their campaign.
This despite some challenges including the absence of a few players from the Fifa Women’s World Cup due to club commitments since the Asian Games is not part of the international window. One player, Katrina Guillou, played for only two matches before leaving for Sweden midway through the tournament due to the window.
“I guess to get that monkey off our backs against Myanmar and getting very good result. Very important for us to advance. Very happy. Obviously, we lost a few players throughout the tournament in regards to returning back to their clubs or having players unavailable. But we worked with what we had and we were very happy with the way the group conducted themselves and the way they approached this whole tournament,” said the Australian coach.
The absence of some players from the World Cup group such as Tahnai Annis, Dom Randle, Angie Beard and Angela Baker opened the door for other players to step in and get evaluated by the new coaching staff.
“We had a unique opportunity to work with these players in the tournament prior to the Olympic qualifiers. That’s the one thing that we were both happy with. Obviously, coming in and being appointed on such short notice, we wanted to get as much time with the players as possible. So obviously, we had a number of more experienced or stronger players that were unavailable. But it gave us a chance to look at the immediate next group of players within this camp.”
“So it was totally valuable for us. It was an amazing opportunity to work with these players in a good competition, to give them the opportunity to be selected and [if] they would qualify. So it definitely serves its purpose. We got to play against some good countries and got the feel of what it’s like to play against two top 20 nations as well. It was very, very important for us,” said Torcaso.
In the match against Japan, Torcaso applauded the players for sticking to their game plan even after it went down to 10 players following the ejection of team captain Hali Long.
“For the limited time that we’ve had with them both on the pitch and even in meetings, they’ve really taken in the information. It’s going to take time, no doubt about it. But for the short time that we have had, they’ve clearly understood some roles.”
“We set ourselves a target against Japan to defend well and counterattack and things like that. And for 50 something minutes, we were excellent even down to 10 players, losing our captain when we did, and still to maintain the game plan that we set against Japan. For me, they clearly understand what we want to do. And regardless of the short time, they’re actually picking it up and we’re really happy. But it will take time and we will constantly instill our vision and our game plan. They’re buying in which is the main thing. There’s still some players that are slowly understanding it but some players have really bought in, which is excellent,” said Torcaso.
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