Sink or swim for Filipinas

It’s do-or-die time for the national team as it faces Iran in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday at the Robina Stadium in Robina, Australia.

Kick-off starts at 5 p.m. (Manila time) with the Filipinas needing to win over the Iranians to advance to the next round.

Despite losing its first two games and having a -4 goal difference, the Filipinas still are in a good position to enter the knockout stage as one of the two best third-place teams in the competition.

The Philippines badly needs to beat the Iranians by a huge margin to have a better goal difference and increase its chances of entering the quarterfinals.

While the Filipinas defeated Iran twice in their recent matches, head coach Mark Torcaso isn’t taking it lightly with the match dictating their fate.

“We’re playing against a tough opponent. We believe Iran will provide us with really good competition that they have provided in their last two games,” Torcaso said in a pre-match press conference.

“We want to just be competitive, and we want to try and get out of the group to go to another World Cup. We know it’s going to be hard. And we’re just determined to try and get this team and this country back on the international stage.”

Iranian head coach Marziyeh Jafari said they are just as determined to end their slump and finally get a win over the Filipinas.

“We have played two hard games against Australia and Korea and we have a situation that is different from the qualification round. Here, the Philippines is a good team,” Jafari said.

“We have analyzed their game. Now, we will try to show our best performance.”

Security will be increased during the game after the Queensland police took note of the presence of protesters outside the stadium last Thursday, according to local TV reports.