OCCASIONS for happiness are hard to come by in these parts, with Filipinos still trying to get out from under the shambles wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic and other things besides, but the thrilling win of the Phil-ippine women’s football team in Pune, India, on Jan. 30 was exactly that.
With its 4-3 victory on penalties over Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confedera-tion Women’s Asian Cup, the team clinched for the Philippines a spot in the 2023 FIFA World Cup — a first in history. Although it lost to South Korea, 0-2, in the semifinals on Feb. 3, the Philippines has a sure slot in the world’s most prestigious football tournament, to be held in Australia and New Zealand in July and August.
The manner by which the Filipino women footballers snatched victory from the jaws of de-feat is a study in determination. It’s apparently not for nothing that goal keeper Olivia McDaniel was reported as saying: “We do not stop fighting.” From accounts of the two-hour match at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, forward Quinley Quesada literally got the ball rolling to push the team ahead at 1-0. The score was 1-1 at full time and 3-3 after 11 pen-alty kicks, a number of saves, and one miss. In the end, when midfielder Sarina Bolden deliv-ered the crucial penalty kick and the ball sailed past the reach of Chinese Taipei’s goalkeeper Cheng Su-Yu, it cracked open an entirely new realm for Philippine footballers, male or fe-male.
The victory of the team — ranked 64th in the world — once more illustrated the capabili-ties of Filipino athletes on the global stage, as well as the inspiring lengths they can reach. The women have only lately been training in Irvine, California, under head coach Alen Stajcic, Australian, who coached his country’s national team in the World Cup in 2015 and 2019 — and who saw the Philippine team’s “potential” early on.
Philippine Football Federation president Mariano Araneta Jr. is sufficiently encouraged to think forward: the team qualifying next for the Paris Olympics In 2024. “From what we saw from the team [in India], anything is possible now,” he told members of the Philippine Sportswriters Association.
Even on her own, with a hostile Philippine government and the barest of support from sports associations, the weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz who won for her country its first Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021showed what a committed athlete of her caliber is capable of. Imagine the heights others like herself can reach with the firm support of both the public and private sectors. The possibilities are endless.