Filipinas dominate UAE

The Philippine national women’s football team put on a show with a 4-1 win over the United Arab Emirates on Saturday in a friendly match at the UAE Headquarters in Al Khawaneej.

Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso could not help but rave about the team’s performance as they showed who’s the boss as early as the first half.

Chandler McDaniel netted a brace after scoring in the 19th and 33rd minutes of the match as the Filipinas played without veterans Sarina Bolden Jaclyn Sawicki, and Quinley Quezada due to injuries.

Team captain Hali Long and Meryll Serrano, who scored in the ninth and 31st minutes, respectively, also helped the Philippines score its first win of 2025.

“This was our first official international match of the year, so it was important for us to score goals, but also to build the playing style,” Torcaso said.

“All four of our goals were scored with the way we want to play, so now it’s about building that into the next game, the next window and then the Asian Cup Qualifiers.”

Debuting for the Filipinas were Aliana Weibel and Paige McSwigan.

As both squads face off again on 8 April, Torcaso said they will rest up as they brace for the Emiratis’ fightback.

“We’ll recover and we’ll spend a bit of time together over the next 24 hours. We’ll just relax and then we’ll start our training sessions on Sunday and then we’ll build that to the second game,” Torcaso said.

“It’ll be even harder the second game because they now know the way that we play but we’ll also want that challenge. It’s very important for us to have that challenge.”