The Philippines’ gold medal conquest at the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand last December was the perfect testing ground for the national women’s football team as it braces for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia starting on Saturday.

Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso said the matches against Thailand and defending champion Vietnam will be their basis for how they will tackle their first match in the Asian Cup as they face the Australians at Perth Stadium.

The Philippines is in Group A with Australia, South Korea and Iran with the top two teams per group and the two best third-placed squads moving onto the knockout stages.

“We brought the first gold medal back home and we used that as a basis of starting to prepare for how we wanted to play against the opposition in the Asian Cup. Playing against teams like Thailand and Vietnam gave us a really good gauge of where we need to be and what we need to do,” Torcaso said.

“But the plan against obviously the stronger teams like Australia and South Korea and even Iran is to bring the same plan, the same intensity, but also lift it and raise it to be even higher than what it is. The players understand we’re obviously going to a competition that is much tougher than the SEA Games.”