November 02, 2024

Mark Torcaso reveals tough reality with Filipinas after Australia's rout in Olympic qualifiers

Mark Torcaso reveals tough reality with Filipinas after Australia
PFF/PWNFT

The Filipinas on Sunday looked out of their league against Australia, ranked no. 11 in the FIFA women’s ranking. The final tally, 8-0, more than proved that, with Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord both notching hat tricks in just 56 minutes of action.

It might not be all that surprising—and it is probably not due to a stark difference in talent.

The way Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso sees things, the Matildas just have a lot more big league experience.

“That’s the level our players have to be at,” Torcaso pointed out at the postmatch press conference. “We have a couple of players who don’t even have professional contracts and (are) playing in college football. There are two or three players here that don’t even have a club to play for, (and) they’re still looking for a club. (In contrast) many (of Australia’s players) are playing in the top leagues in Europe.”

Case in point: Kerr and Foord. Kerr plays for Chelsea in the FA Women's Super League in Europe, while Foord is plying her trade in the same league but for Arsenal. Mary Fowler, who opened the scoring for Australia is playing for Manchester City at the English Women’s Super League, while most of the other Matildas, on the other hand, are playing in leagues all over Europe as well.

In contrast, only a select few Filipinas are playing in the highest levels of football in Europe, with Angela Beard and the McDaniel sisters—Olivia and Chandler—coming to mind, along with Sara Eggesvik, Meryll Serrano, Katrina Guillou, and maybe a couple more, give or take.

“The learnings we’ll take is that we need to make sure our players are better prepared… from that perspective,” Torcaso added. “It’s difficult, but it’s getting the players up to a standard where they’re playing in a stronger league than they are or a league as well because some of them don’t have that.”

Indeed, getting reps in high-level competitions is critical for growth, and that is something Torcaso and the rest of the coaching staff will surely be working on moving forward.  

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