Filipinas keep Asian Cup chances alive

The national team kept its faith and finally got the win it needed in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup last Sunday after toppling Iran, 2-0, at the Robina Stadium in Robina, Australia.

Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso expressed satisfaction with what the Filipinas have pulled off as they kept their hopes alive for the quarterfinal round.

The Philippines finished the group stages with a 1-0-2 win-draw-loss record in Group A, putting the squad in a good position to enter the quarterfinals as one of the two best third place teams in the tournament.

“The girls fought really hard today, especially after the last couple of days of recovery and with the travel still in their legs since Perth,” Torcaso said.

“I’m extremely proud of every one of them. I hope everyone back home in the Philippines is proud of our girls as well because they fought so hard for the country tonight.”

After a close 0-1 loss to Australia last week and a 0-3 defeat to South Korea, the Filipinas finally broke through after goals from Sara Eggesvik and Chandler McDaniel in the 29th and 82nd minutes, respectively, against the Iranians.

The Filipinas now wait for the result of the other matches in Groups B and C.

Should the match between Uzbekistan and Bangladesh in Group B, which is happening at press time, ends in a draw or a victory by less than four goals, the Philippines advances to the quarterfinal.

But the knockout stages will be a tough road for the Filipinas, who resume the hunt for a berth in the 2027 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Only the semifinalists and the play-in winners will earn World Cup slots.

“We are praying and hoping that a few goals is enough for us to make it out of the group,” Torcaso said.

The Philippines could face two-time Asian Cup champions Japan in the quarterfinals.

It would be a rematch of their 19th Asian Games meeting in the Round of 16 where Japan thrashed the Filipinas 8-1 in Hangzhou, China in 2023.

Eggesvik, named the Player of the Match, said need to be clinical in front of the goal for the next matches.

“I’m glad we got the win. We came into this game not knowing how many goals we needed, but we knew we had to win,” Eggesvik said.

“As Mark said, we had a lot of chances, so we could have been more clinical. If we had scored more, we would feel a bit safer about getting that third-place spot.”