Philippines hope ‘meteoric rise’ to Women’s World Cup is game-changer

MANILA – In a country obsessed with beauty pageants, basketball and boxing, the Philippines women’s team hope to ignite interest in football when they make the nation’s World Cup debut.

Long minnows in the sport, the Philippines have never played at a World Cup, either the men’s or women’s.

All that will change on July 21 when the women’s side under their Australian coach Alen Stajcic play Switzerland in Dunedin, New Zealand.

He calls their journey from “almost ground zero” to the World Cup “miraculous”.

Half of his players do not belong to a professional club and some have been “running around the block on their own” for training, he said.

“It’s been a meteoric sort of rise for the team,” the 49-year-old told AFP via Zoom. “The challenge for us is to somehow maintain and sustain that improvement, not be happy with where we got to.”

Since Stajcic’s appointment as coach in late 2021, the Philippines have jumped from No. 68 in the Fifa rankings and are now a best-ever 46th place.

It began with the Women’s Asian Cup in early 2022, when they made the semi-finals, losing to South Korea but securing a historic World Cup berth.

They followed it up with bronze at the SEA Games in 2022, then won the regional AFF Women’s Championship on home soil. But they failed to qualify for the 2023 SEA Games semi-finals after finishing third in their four-team group on goal difference.

The Philippines are in Group A at the World Cup, alongside co-hosts New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. They are one of two South-east Asian sides at the 32-team tournament, the other being fellow debutantes Vietnam.

They will not be expected to get out of the group, but Philippines defender Hali Long said: “I would like to think we’re going to go in there and do more than just participate.

“We’re going in there to compete with everything we have to show.”

The team hope getting the Philippines to their first World Cup can be a game-changer for football in the country.

Long was born in the United States – most of the players on the national team have been recruited from the Philippines’ large diaspora.

“It’s not the most popular sport here,” Long told AFP at a training session with the Manila club she and national goalkeeper Inna Palacios play for. “It’s not the beauty pageants, boxing and basketball; we don’t have a ‘B’.”

Palacios, one of the few players born in the Philippines, said more investment was needed to find and develop young talent in the poverty-plagued country.

“We don’t have the fields or a place to play,” she said. “It was tagged as a... sport for people who are rich and can afford fields and shoes, but in reality you just need your feet and a ball.”

Stajcic is a major reason for the Philippines’ improvement. He brings a wealth of experience in a playing and coaching career in Australia.

He coached Australia at the 2015 Women’s World Cup and took the Matildas to as high as fourth in the Fifa rankings, but was dumped despite guiding them to the 2019 tournament.

He says that being able to get the squad together for extended periods, including a 10-week training camp in the United States before the Asian Cup, has been another reason for their rise.

But he will need all his nous and know-how if the Philippines are to be competitive in a women’s game which is at an all-time high in Europe and North America.

Backing his team to make an impact if they “do everything right”, Stajcic added: “We’re going to need a little bit of luck.

“We’re going to have to make our luck, we’re going to have to give ourselves every possible chance in our preparation.” AFP