THE PHILIPPINE women’s and men’s Under-22 football teams begin their medal bid in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games against Myanmar in separate venues.
The Filipinas battle their perennial Southeast Asian rival on Friday, 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Manila time) at the National Sports University in Chonburi, while the U-22 men’s squad also faces the Burmese footballers at the 700th anniversary Chang Mai Stadium at 6 p.m. local time (7 p.m. Manila time).
Despite qualifying to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, the Filipinas failed to land a SEA Games medal that same year, falling short of making it to the semifinals under then-head coach Alen Stajcic.
They won two matches during that tournament when they beat Malaysia, 1-0, and Vietnam, 2-1, but their opening loss to Myanmar, 1-0, proved to be the difference. Worse, it was Myanmar which advanced to the semifinals thanks to that win over the Philippines.
The Philippines is once again grouped with Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar for this edition of the SEA Games.
“Our team has been working hard for the last couple of months for this tournament. We’re well-prepared,” said Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso. “We know we’re in a very strong group. We’ve got some very strong teams here and we respect every opponent. But we’ve got a job here to do and that is to become the best team here. And we are very determined to do that.”
Despite participating in the training camp, Filipinas forward Sarina Bolden didn’t land a spot on the SEA Games squad after her recovery from an ACL injury.
Room for improvement for PMNT
For the men’s side, the Under-22 team finished dead last in their group in 2023.
The squad, however, has shown progress since then, with the Philippines even reaching the bronze medal match of the ASEAN Under-23 Championship last July.
Senior national team members Sandro Reyes and Santi Rublico join forces with Otu Banatao and Javier Marona, who combined for five goals in the ASEAN U-23 tilt.
Meanwhile, the Philippine polo team actually already started the country's campaign in the 33rd SEA Games by defeating Indonesia, 5.5 to 3, in the 2-4 goals preliminaries at the VS Sports Club in Samutprakan.
The polo squad resumes play on Saturday with a match against host Thailand.
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