They look to regain their groove against Vietnam.
Coach Alen Stajcic is not one to mince words, and he was on-brand again after the Philippine women’s national football team’s performance on Saturday against Malaysia in the football event of the Southeast Asian Games.
To be clear, the Philippines won that match, 1-0, courtesy of a clutch Sarina Bolden header. It was a walk-off goal that kept the Filipinas’ hopes of staying in medal contention.
Stajcic admitted his squad, ranked 49th in the world, could have done better against world no. 88 Malaysia. Their struggles, however, weren’t limited to this game.
“Tough game. Not our best performance, but we haven’t played well so far,” said Stajcic, recalling their loss to Myanmar in the opener of the biennial meet.
“It’s not easy when you’re not in good rhythm, and the last two games we haven’t been in good rhythm at all,” the coach added.
The positives, however, aren’t lost on the tactician, who went ahead and gave props to his wards for powering through.
“To not play well and show resilience was a good bit of character,” he said.
The Australian native pointed to Bolden and her outstanding goal for being the epitome of that resilience.
“Sarina is just an example of someone who dug really deep to inspire the team and kept us alive.”
The Filipinas hope to draw more from that on the 9th of May, when they face region powerhouse and world no. 33 Vietnam.