CHONBURI, Thailand — The triumphant Filipinas are looking to use their amazing run in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games here as a momentum-builder and confidence-booster heading into the next big battles.

The Pinay booters, who ended the duopoly of Vietnam and Thailand in women’s football and made history for the Philippines, will wage battle in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup set for March next year in Australia. The Continental meet will serve as a pathway to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

“We’ll enjoy this one, we have to enjoy this one because it’s been a long time coming for this country to win the SEA Games,” said coach Mark Torcaso, after the squad sealed its SEA Games coronation with a 6-5 victory on penalties over Vietnam after a scoreless stalemate after 120 minutes.

“We’ll rest a little bit and then we have to get ready for the Asian Cup.”

Torcaso feels more big things are coming for his gritty crew of vets and young guns.

“We saw how disciplined our girls can be against good teams and I truly believe that we can do that against Australia or South Korea and Iran and I truly believe that we can do something special there as well and go to another World Cup,” he said.

The Filipinas need to finish in the top two against the host Boomers, the Koreans and the Iranians in Group A to get to the quarterfinals, where the four winners will get a direct entry to the world meet and the four losers will contest two other spots in the play-in matches.

“The most pleasing thing for me this competition (SEA Games) was we showed that we’ve got a group of players here, both experienced and young players that are ready to fight for our country right from the start of the game to the end of the game, even penalty shootouts,” Torcaso said.