The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) beams optimism over the chances of the national women’s team in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games that would be held in Thailand from 9 to 20 December.

PFF president John Gutierrez said the Filipinas have fighting chances in the biennial meet after seeing how they performed without veterans Sarina Bolden, Katrina Guillou, Sara Eggesvik and Meryll Serrano in the ASEAN Championship in Vietnam recently.

The Filipinas finished the regional tourney at third place in Group B with a 1-1-1 win-draw-loss record.

“I cannot stress enough how well those girls played. Australia and Myanmar scored twice in the semifinal while they only scored once against us,” Gutierrez said.

“That team has an average age of 22.9 years. We’re the youngest team there and if we had to do it again, I would have sent the same group of girls.”

The Filipinas have young guns who are expected to blossom into stars of the future.

Dionesa Tolentin, a 25-year-old forward from Far Eastern University, emerged as one of the Filipinas’ top scorers in the tournament with two goals in three games while Nina Mathelus and Adelaide Wyrzynski scored the first goals of their respective international careers.

Goalkeeper Nina Meollo, defenders Azumi Oka and Aliana Weibel and midfielder Tea Pidding also submitted solid performances in their Filipinas debut.

Gutierrez said the Filipinas are expected to further develop as they compete in more friendly matches heading into the SEA Games.

“I’m looking forward to having those girls back and developing them even more,” Gutierrez said.

“These ladies are very young. So, the more international games they get, the better they will be. They just need to sharpen themselves.”