Do not count the Philippines out.

The Filipinas proved that they belonged to the biggest football stage in the world as they pulled off a shocking 1-0 victory over co-host New Zealand in the preliminaries of the FIFA Women's World Cup on Tuesday at the jampacked Sky Stadium in Wellington.

Sarina Bolden struck hard, taking a nifty cross from Sara Eggesvik to deliver a header in the 24th minute that goalkeeper Victoria Esson struggled to stop, the ball fumbling out of her hand and flipping straight into the net.

Shortly after slotting the historic goal — the first ever for the Philippines in the World Cup — Bolden sprinted wildly towards her teammate while majority of the more than 32,000 hometown crowd could only watch in horror and disbelief.

New Zealand tried to push hard for the equalizer but goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel came up with timely saves to earn the Woman of the Match honors and preserve the historic victory.

Jacqui Hand also came up with a potential game-tying header in the 68th minute when McDaniel was caught out of position, but it was ruled offside by Mexican referee Katia Garcia after reviewing the play with the Virtual Assistant Referee, much to the Filipinas' relief.

Grace Jale also tried to level the count at 1-1 in the second minute of added time but McDaniel again deflected the ball, extinguishing any hopes of a comeback for the Football Ferns.

"This must be a special moment in (Philippine football history), the biggest win in any team sport," stressed Australian coach Alen Stajcic of the enormity of the victory.

Later, he admitted that luck rolled their way and helped them pulled off a gigantic upset of New Zealand, the 26th best team in the world that beat them in a friendly match last September, 2-1.

"Of course, we rode our luck because New Zealand had three or four unbelievable chances. There was that VAR call, an inside the post goal (that McDaniel was able to save)," Stajcic, whose wards will wrap up their pool play against Norway on Sunday at Eden Park, recalled.