Setting foot on the FIFA Women’s World Cup was as soon as solely a dream for Filipino-American striker Sarina Bolden.
Not till January 31, 2022, when the Filipinas defeated Chinese Taipei in India to clinch the nation’s first-ever World Cup look.
But Bolden is hoping that they would not be the final ones to realize such a feat.
“I’d just say that if you have a dream, go after it,” Bolden stated on the heels of a troublesome 6-0 loss to Norway on Sunday to conclude their 2023 World Cup run in Auckland, New Zealand.
She continued: “Work your hardest. There’s gonna be ups, there’s gonna be downs, but if you truly want to achieve your dream, go after it.”
As debutants, the Filipinas certainly had a fantastic marketing campaign within the quadrennial match.
They put up a gallant stand towards world no. 20 Switzerland earlier than in the end falling to a 2-0 defeat. But they made positive to regroup and bounce again, gorgeous co-host New Zealand by way of a 1-nil victory with Bolden delivering the game-winning header.
Unfortunately for the Filipinas, their marketing campaign got here to an in depth after ending the group stage with a loss to the mighty Norwegian squad. Bolden admitted Norway was simply the higher workforce this time, highlighting the truth that they nonetheless have a protracted approach to go individually and as a workforce.
“We knew it was gonna be a dogfight right from the beginning. Norway is a super strong team that has a lot of experience not only in the World Cup, but also professionally. We knew it,” she added.
“You know, the best team won today but there are a lot of learning points and growing points for us that we take away and we still learn from this.”
Despite the loss, Bolden is aware of the soccer neighborhood within the nation will solely develop larger and he or she hopes to have impressed lots of people.
“It’s growing and it’s bigger than ever. So if your dream is to be a professional, if your dream is to be in the World Cup, you can achieve it,” Bolden, a Santa Clara, California-born athlete, stated.
“You just got to work hard and set your mind to it and don’t worry about the past, don’t worry about the future, [because] the time is now.”
—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
