Filipinas wins over Fiji for SEA Games preparations.
The Philippine Women’s National Football Team in its first match calling itself the Filipinas, overpowered Fiji for its preparations for the upcoming 31st Hanoi Southeast Asian Games campaign with a 7-2 at the Western Sydney Wanderers Football Park in Sydney, Australia.
Banking on their surge in the first half, the Filipinas made light work of the Fijis through the first 45 minutes beginning with Quinley Quezada’s 13th minute kick in what would be her birthday bash to get it going for her squad.
Midfielder Anicka Castaneda then made it 2-0 in the 17th minute before Dom Randle added the Filipinas' third goal in the 25th minute.
Captain Tahnai Annis fired back-to-back goals to make it 5-0, while Castaneda finished the first half with her brace for the 6-0 count.
In the second half, the Fijis started warming up and were able to score twice to cut the deficit to just a four-goal lead for the Filipinas.
Midfielder Cama Nasau pulled one back at the 50th minute while Adi Volitikoro scored another one at the 63rd minute.
However, Quezada delivered the nail in the coffin andadded to her tally at the 79th minute to secure her own brace.
“The result was one thing but we’re looking at our performance. There were some good patches, some good moments but we were a bit rusty in some parts just because players were out for two months, not training in a team environment,” said Philippines coach Alen Stajcic.
“We were a bit rusty on the ball as the match wore on. That’s just a result of a couple of months out and just four to five days of training. But we’ll be working hard to ensure we get back to the levels where we were during the Asian Cup,” added Stajcic.
Both teams are set to play each other again on Monday and head coach Stajcic added that they have three more matches after the rematch with Fiji before flying to Vietnam.
Tags: #PWFNT, #football, #SEAGames