Filipinas make Asiad debut vs Uzbekistan

Six months after beating Uzbekistan to secure their place in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Filipinas will face the Central Asian side again when they open their 20th Asian Games campaign on Monday at the Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium in Gifu, Japan.

Kickoff is set at 1 p.m. (Manila time).

Head coach Mark Torcaso expects Uzbekistan to come out with added motivation after the Filipinas ended their World Cup hopes in March.

“What I will say to you is that I know that they’re going to come out fighting because they obviously still have to qualify for the World Cup, and they’ve got the inter-confederation playoffs in December so they’re going to use these games as preparation for that,” Torcaso said.

“They won’t like that we beat them a couple of months ago and we qualified for the World Cup so I’m sure they’re going to be tough. But as I said, our players will focus on us.”

The Philippines is in Group C with Uzbekistan, China and Hong Kong, with the top two teams and the best third-placed teams advancing to the quarterfinals.

The Filipinas will lean on captain Hali Long and World Cup veterans Olivia McDaniel, Sofia Harrison and Katrina Guillou as they seek another deep run in the continental meet.

The Philippines reached the quarterfinals in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, before suffering an 8-1 loss to eventual champions Japan.

Torcaso and his charges will look to go one step further in Nagoya as they continue building toward the 2027 World Cup.