Filipinas leave Torcaso impressed
Chandler McDaniel scores two goals in the Filipinas’ 4-1 friendly win over UAE on Saturday at Al Khawannej in Dubai.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PFF
Daily TribuneChandler McDaniel scores two goals in the Filipinas’ 4-1 friendly win over UAE on Saturday at Al Khawannej in Dubai.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PFF
Philippine national women’s team head coach Mark Torcaso expressed his elation over the Filipinas’ back-to-back wins in friendly matches recently with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai.
Torcaso said after their 4-0 win over UAE last Wednesday that they were able to execute everything they wanted to happen inside the pitch following their 4-1 victory last Friday.
The Filipinas wrapped up their stint in Dubai after winning their friendly games against the 112th-ranked Emiratis despite the absence of veterans Sarina Bolden, Quinley Quezada, and Jaclyn Sawicki due to injuries.
“To score eight goals in the last two games is very good. Lots of different goal scorers as well which is good for us but again it’s about building on the way we want to play and hopefully in the highlights you’ll see the really good goals we scored,” Torcaso said.
“Really pleased with how the girls played in the last two games. We stayed disciplined, we stayed patient. The girls were very good in possession, and we scored some really good goals.”
Sara Eggesvik dictated the tempo for the Filipinas after scoring a goal in the 37th minute.
The second half saw the Philippines open the floodgates after Carleigh Frilles (54th), skipper Hali Long (62nd) and Chandler McDaniel (74th) also joined the scoring spree.
The Filipinas are gearing up for the ASEAN MSIG Serenity Cup in June in Indonesia and the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Cambodia from 29 June to 5 July.
Torcaso said playing against UAE would give them an idea of how they would face Cambodia, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Only the top teams per group will advance to the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup from 1 to 21 March in Australia.
“We need to understand that we’re going to play in the Asian Cup Qualifiers, and we’re going to be playing teams like this that are defensively very good. So playing UAE now is extremely good because we’re going to come up against Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia,” Torcaso said.
“They’re going to do the same thing in the Qualifiers, so we wanted to be prepared for that. It’s about building towards the Asian Cup qualifiers and we’re really looking forward to that.”
The Filipinas are expected to regroup for the next international window, which will be from 26 May to 3 June as they play two home games.