After a 37-year-long wait, the Philippines lastly bagged a medal in ladies’s soccer within the earlier version of the Southeast Asian Games held final 12 months in Vietnam.
This time round, the Filipinas will look to enhance on final 12 months’s bronze medal end, as they plunge into motion in Group A of the match, which is being held in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
Grouped along with conventional Southeast Asian contenders Vietnam and Myanmar implies that getting out of the group is on no account a formality, with each groups aiming to avenge their defeat to the Filipinas in latest instances.
Vietnam, specifically, would have penciled within the match versus the Philippines with anticipation, with ideas of avenging the 0-4 defeat they suffered towards the Filipinas within the semi-finals of the 2022 AFF Women’s Championships.
Myanmar would additionally equally relish an opportunity to avenge their defeat by the hands of the Filipinas within the bronze medal match final time, with the Filipinas coming from behind to grab the medal with two objectives within the sport’s final 16 minutes.
In the pre-tournament press convention, Coach Alen Stajcic has named Vietnam as favorites to win all of it.
“Vietnam are the favorites to win this tournament,” mentioned Stajcic. “We’re just growing at the moment and we know we have a long way to go to catch up.”
“Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar have been strong for a long time. We respect that they have better history.”
Rounding off the group is Malaysia, and whereas the Philippines can be favorites to win that sport, Steffi Sidhu and the Malaysians is not going to be there simply to make up the numbers.
With the Philippines dealing with Myanmar within the first sport and Vietnam final, there’s a case to be made for Stajcic to as soon as once more rotate his squad accordingly, and he could have many choices at his disposal to take action.
Rewarded for his or her efforts within the latest U20s match, Sabine Ramos and Natalie Oca have made the leap to the senior crew and they are going to be joined by 16-year-old Isabella Pasion, who made her debut within the lately concluded Olympic Games qualifiers.
Team supervisor Jefferson Cheng is happy concerning the prospect of giving probabilities to the children.
“Aside from giving opportunities to our younger players it is also part of building more depth in the pool/squad where injuries and player availability among others are a factor in determining your final squad selection,” mentioned Cheng.
Katrina Guillou, Jessika Cowart, Tahnai Annis, and Meryll Serrano are the notable absentees from the squad, however such is the depth within the squad that there’s hardly an uproar from followers and pundits alike.
Hali Long and Reina Bonta shall be anticipated to shore up the center of the Filipinas’ defence, with Sofia Harrison, Alicia Barker, Malea Cesar, and Maya Alcantara anticipated to compete for spots within the backline.
Sara Eggesvik and Jackie Sawicki will lend their expertise within the Filipinas’ midfield, however all eyes shall be on file aim scorer Quinley Quezada and Sarina Bolden to guide the assault.
Chandler McDaniel, who missed final 12 months’s match resulting from an ACL damage, shall be anticipated to make up for misplaced time and make a robust case for inclusion to Stajcic’s last World Cup squad.
With the FIFA Women’s World Cup simply two months away, this is likely one of the last probabilities for Stajcic to work along with his gamers, toy with combos and choose his most well-liked beginning eleven – and his 23-woman squad – for the largest match in Philippine soccer historical past.
While the Filipinas would maybe not go into the SEA Games because the prohibitive favourite, it might not be inaccurate to say that the World Cup-bound Philippines are among the many groups that one may count on to win the gold medal.
Cheng guarantees that the Filipinas will give a gallant struggle.
“The objective of the preparation and training has always been to get the top prize in any competition,” he says.
“Higher-ranked teams I believe will still be the favorites considering historically they had more success but we will be there to battle it out for the gold.”
The Philippines open their SEA Games marketing campaign towards Myanmar on May 3 at 9 p.m. (Manila time), adopted by the sport towards Malaysia on May 6. The Filipinas wrap up the group levels with a date towards defending champions Vietnam on May 9.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
