Filipinas team captain Hali Long is still over the moon after winning the country’s first gold medal in the women’s football event of the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand.
Long, who played her 101st match with the squad, said she wants the victory not just about them but for every little girl watching and dreaming of making it to the national team.
The Philippines dethroned Vietnam via penalty shootout, 0-0 (6-5), in the final at the Chonburi Stadium last week.
“I mean we’ve never won silver, we’ve never won gold, so you might as well go big, no? This is hard. No, my message to all the girls would be to just remember this feeling and remember everything we did to get here,” Long said.
“All the sacrifices, sickness, death, every single thing we did to get to this point. We dug deep, we showed a lot of heart and we did this for the Philippines.”
“We did this for every little girl who wants to dream big.”
Long also praised Filipinas veteran Inna Palacios, who retired after 13 years of serving the country.
“Inna taught us to dream big and we did and we’re sending her off with a gold medal. We’re going to bring this home and show everyone we know that it’s possible,” Long said.
The Filipinas’ road to the gold medal was nothing short of a miracle.
After losing 1-2 to Myanmar, the Philippines took down the Vietnamese, 1-0, and Malaysia, 6-0, to take the second spot in Group B and advance to the semifinals.
The Filipinas defeated host Thailand, 1-1 (4-2) to book a spot in the final for the first time since the sport was included in 1985.
Now, Long said she and the team will take a well-deserved break for the holidays before getting back to training for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia from 1 to 21 March.
The Filipinas need to make it to at least the semifinals to book a spot for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
“I’m going to take a break. Christmas, New Year, and then we go to the Asian Cup in March. But I want to enjoy this,” Long said.