Uzbek coach glad to have tested ‘interesting’ Filipinas squad in international friendly

The Filipinas drew the praise of Uzbekistan women’s head coach Kotryna Kulbyte after a hard-fought 2-2 draw at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last week during an international friendly to culminate the October FIFA window.

Kulbyte, whose team battled back from a 0-2 hole in the second half, spoke highly about the Philippines as one of the teams they wanted to measure themselves against — especially as both will be going into the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia next March.

“Yes, so, we spoke about this, that Philippines was top 4 in the last Asian Cup, so we wanted to try our power to play against this kind of opponents, and I think today, we did a pretty good job against these opponents,” Kulbyte told media after the match. 

“It also gave us a little bit of a feeling, okay, we can do it, we can play against all the opponents in the Asian Cup.”

The home team were the first to strike against the Uzbeks, when the visitors were caught off guard by Chandler McDaniel’s goal at the 2nd minute.

Meryll Serrano then doubled the lead near the hour mark, which could’ve effectively ended the night.

However, Kulbyte’s players were not to be deterred. With Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva leading the charge, the Uzbeks caught up with the Filipinas and by the 80th minute, it was all level at 2-2.

[RELATED: Filipinas battle to draw with Uzbekistan in SEA Games build-up]

With neither side being able to break the deadlock, Kulbyte was happy with the result, with all things considered.

“Today, we were not full squad, so we are missing 5-6 players, so I think when we will add these players, it will be a little bit different face of the team. So, I am very looking forward to play in Asian Cup and maybe to meet Philippines over there,” she said.

‘Interesting’ Filipinas

Asked about who stood out to her from the Philippines' side, Kulbyte said she wasn’t keen on naming an individual player.

Rather, she looked at the Filipinas squad as a whole, and for the Lithuanian manager, the squad posed a promising challenge for her team.

“I’m not a big fan to mention individual players at all. I think all of the players are very interesting, and, of course, I'm following the player who's playing in Spain,” she said, alluding to Fil-Spanish player Alexia Jr. 

“But, yeah, [the Filipinas] have pretty good players and pretty good young players, so, I mean, the generation is very bright.”

Before the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, though, the Filipinas will be headed for Thailand for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games at the end of the year.

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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.

Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.