Filipinas still hungry for World Cup glory

While Filipinos are still celebrating Spain’s victory in the FIFA World Cup, their national women’s football team are deep in training, preparing to make yet another historic run when the prestigious 32-nation tournament moves to Brazil next year.

Collectively known as the Filipinas, the Filipina booters are determined to make a lot of noise when they make their second straight World Cup appearance.

And the entire country will be behind them. In fact, no less than President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. mentioned them in his recent State of the Nation Address, saying that he hopes more Filipinos will pick up the sport and make the country proud on the global stage.

“With the Filipinas, I hope football becomes more popular in the country and more people play it,” Marcos said as he discussed sports and health in his annual report to the Filipinos.

The Philippine Football Federation thanked Marcos for his praise of the Filipinas, who will be the lone Southeast Asian team to play in the World Cup.

“The Philippine Football Federation is grateful to President Bongbong Marcos for recognizing football in his State of the Nation Address,” said the federation, whose national squad will be the lone Southeast Asian in the prestigious field composed of the best football countries in the world.

“Tayo naman, Pilipinas!”

The Filipinas are already plotting their World Cup preparations, starting with the 20th Asian Games from 14 September to 2 October in Japan, where they will face Uzbekistan, Hong Kong and China in Group C.

Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso said they see the Asiad as an important step in their World Cup buildup.

“This is our opportunity to go again, and we just want to show the world that we’re going to do this again and, more importantly, we’re going to do it our way,” Torcaso said.

“We’re here to create our own path and chance to do well in this next World Cup.”

With stars like Hali Long, Sara Eggesvik, Olivia McDaniel, Chandler McDaniel and Reina Bonta leading the squad, the entire country is expected to rally behind the Filipinas as they face yet another massive challenge.

But for now, Torcaso wants the Filipinas to focus on the Asian Games as they vie for a podium finish.

“The main objective in this Asian Games is obviously to go as far as we can, but it’s also for us as coaches and the country to test some players at a tough level to see if they’ll be ready for the World Cup,” Torcaso said.