Alen Stajcic and Nahuel Arrarte to make sure that the winning culture will be instilled in the national team starting with the youth after being named as head coaches for the women’s football youth teams.
The Philippine women's national football team, together with head coach Alen Stajcic and his assistant Nahuel Arrarte, will not settle for a one-and-done feat with 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup as they look to continue building the winning culture.
To instill the winning mentality and for the program to continue progressing from the younger players to the senior team, Stajcic and Arrate have been appointed as head coach for the Under-17 and Under-20 youth teams, respectively, reported PhilStar.
An official announcement was made on Jan. 25, at the Acacia Hotel in Alabang during a media conference arranged by the Philippine Football Federation.
“Hopefully, we can lean on some of the success that we have with the senior national team with both youth national teams, and ultimately, youth national teams are all about winning but more importantly, they are about development and talent ID, and hopefully, laying a good foundation for the success of the team,” said Stajcic in an interview, reported Spin.ph.
"It's very exciting, I think it's an opportunity to align the senior national team along with young players coming through and it's a similar process as we did with the senior team in regards to looking for the best Filipinas players possible," added Arrarte.
Both coaches have just returned to the country after holding tryouts in the US for both the U17 and U20 teams in California that drew 110 players aged 13 to 17, and are set to hold local tryouts in Manila, Davao, and Cebu in the coming days.
After the tryouts, Stajcic and Arrarte are set to oversee the senior team in the upcoming Pinatar Cup in Spain where they are set to continue to build for the World Cup in their first-ever competition in European soil.
PWNFT has a packed 2023 ahead of them as after holding tryouts locally, Stajcic and Arrarte will fly, together with the team, to Spain for the upcoming Pinatar Cup for their competition in Europe and part of their preparations for the World Cup.
Pinatar Cup will run from February 15 to 21, with the team facing Iceland, Scotland, and Wales.
“2023 is a very busy year for us. We already started in January with the tryouts. We will have our Pinatar Cup for our senior women’s national team. We have an Olympic qualifier and the SEA Games. Basically, every month, we have something for the national team for the seniors team, U20 and U17 team,” said team manager Jeff Cheng, who was present at the media conference together with team captain Hali Long, and Inna Palacios.
Tags: #football, #youthteam, #WorldCup