The second round presents another tough challenge for the Filipinas.
Welcome to the second round.
The Philippine women's national football team has entered the second round of the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a spotless record in Group E.
And it's an impressive clean sheet with four goals against Pakistan, a whopping eight against host Tajikistan, and four more against familiar foes Hong Kong.
The Philippines will join fellow group winners Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, and India in entering the next phase of the competition, where they will meet the top seeded teams in Asia—North Korea, Japan, Australia, China, and South Korea.
They will be divided into three groups and compete in October. Only four squads—the three group winners and the best-ranked runners-up will get to move on. And from that, only two in all of Asia will advance to the Olympics.
The second round of the OQT is a familiar place for the Filipinas. In the 2020 OQT edition, they beat Iran, 2-0, and Palestine, 7-0. But a 2-4 loss to Chinese Taipei proved to be too costly for the Philippines.
For now, they get to take a short break as they await the draw for the second round. In the meantime, the Filipinas get invaluable preparation for the FIFA Women's World Cup this July.
And if the Philippines could take on New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, anything just might be possible.