The Philippine national women’s football team sees a lot of potential despite its 0-1 loss to Chinese Taipei in a friendly match last Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso said they showed great promise despite missing FIFA Women’s World Cup veterans Sarina Bolden, Quinly Quezada, Katrina Guillou, and Meryl Serrano during their friendly duel that serves as preparation for the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers in Cambodia on 29 June.

A lone tap-in goal from Saki Matsunaga in the 28th minute gave the Taiwanese the victory over the Filipinas, who played their first home game in three years.

“It’s always tough losing any game, in any sport, but you probably saw the character of what our girls are actually about in that last 35 minutes. I can’t doubt a fight in these girls and that’s something that we’ve been doing for the last six months,” Torcaso said.

“I’m extremely proud of them. It’s not the result that we would want, because we want to win every single game but it’s a good preparation game for our Asian Cup qualifiers.

The Filipinas will be going up against the Cambodians, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia in Group G with only the top team per group advancing to the Asian Cup in Australia next year.

With Bolden’s status remaining uncertain, Torcaso will rely on the likes of Guillou, Serrano and Quezada to return in time for the Asian Cup qualifiers.

“Katrina, Meryl, Quinley, they are all experienced World Cup players and they are the players that they are going to be back for us in the Asia Cup qualifiers, and that’s the exciting thing for us,” Torcaso said.

Team captain Hali Long said this match should serve as a reminder for them to get better as they brace for tougher competitions ahead.

After all, the Filipinas will also defend their ASEAN MSIG Serenity Cup from 6 to 19 August in Vietnam and compete in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand from 9 to 20 December.

“Tough loss. But we win as a team and we lose as a team. So, we’ll hock it as a team and luckily, it’s just a friendly and we have qualifiers next month to look forward to,” said Long, who played her 90th match for the Philippines.