The Philippine women’s national football team will be going up against a busier Chinese Taipei squad in the team’s first official home game in three years.
The Philippine women’s national football team will dig deep to hopefully get themselves a win in front of a home crowd, as the team plays its first official home game since 2022, facing Chinese Taipei in an international friendly on Tuesday, June 3.
Marking the Filipinas’ return to Rizal Memorial Stadium for the first time since they won the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship three years ago, the Filipinas will be facing a litmus test in preparation for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers looming later this year.
Now deep into the camp, Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso spoke highly about their opponents which have been the busier side in the past few months.
“The last camp that we played that we had against Chinese Taipei was obviously in Australia. It was only our second appointment [then] actually as a new staff. We played extremely well and that was the Olympic qualifiers and we beat them 3-1,” Torcaso said.
“But we've obviously followed Chinese Taipei over the last year and a half. And they're a developing side like us and they're getting better and better. So they've played some tough opponents in the last couple of windows. We know they'll be a very tough team,” he added.
The Filipinas, in contrast, have been quiet in the past few months, playing last in October last year before their two friendlies against the UAE earlier this year.
Chinese Taipei was able to play matches even during the December window.
For Torcaso, they are the perfect team to help the Filipinas play catch up and will provide a good barometer of what the team needs to work on.
“That's why we chose them to be here and to play us. So it's perfect preparation for the Asian Cup qualifiers,” he said.
However, it will be easier said than done for the Filipinas to take the victory over Chinese Taipei as they are missing some key cogs — most notably Sarina Bolden and Quinley Quezada, who are the two leading scorers in the national team.
But for Torcaso, the Manila camp and the friendly against Chinese Taipei will prove pivotal in integrating younger players into the system.
Three new players were called up in Julianna Barker, Megan Murray, and U17 call up Ava Villapando.
More importantly, the time now will be dedicated for the Filipinas to recover quickly in time for the qualifiers slated later in June.
“Yeah, obviously there's a number of players that aren't here. Some senior players have been part of this national team for a couple of years and there are injuries. Obviously we have Meryll Serrano that's injured, Katrina [Guillou], Sarina [Bolden],” he said.
“We have a lot of players that are unfortunately out. Reina Bonta is still out. So there's a great opportunity for some of our U20s to come into this camp and give them a chance to be ready for our Asian Cup qualifiers.” he continued.
As for what the team wants to achieve, Torcaso continues to look at the long run as the Filipinas are in preparation for another World Cup cycle where they hope to achieve another appearance at the sport’s biggest stage.
“This camp we wanted to work on a stronger team and we know China Taipei is a very strong team. So we wanted to come up against a tough team that would help challenge us for the Asian Cup qualifiers,” he said.
“So the expectations are for us to continue to build the playing style. We're getting there, we got to a point where we're comfortable with it. But this camp will provide us, hopefully an opportunity to be really good defensively. But also able to implement our playing style.”
It can be recalled that the Philippines qualified for the Women's World Cup in 2022 at the expense of Chinese Taipei, where they won at the quarterfinals of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India via penalty shootout.