THE Philippine National Women’s Football Team’s campaign in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in New Zealand and Australia has ended with a lopsided 6-0 loss against Norway.
The defeat, however, doesn’t take away from the many positive impacts the Filipinas have accomplished during their initial, but historic appearance in the biggest soccer event this year, and hopefully in future World Cups.
More importantly, these takeaways will sustain the momentum the Filipinas have generated in inspiring many future footballers in aspiring to play for flag and country in upcoming tournaments.
That said and done, the harder part comes.
Hearing Lupang Hinirang three times in the World Cup is surely not the end goal of the men and women behind the Filipinas, especially head coach Alen Stajcic and his staff, nor the management side of Jeff Cheng and for sure, the Philippine Football Federation will see to it the leaps and bounds gained in the campaign will not go to waste.
Blueprint is set
From being unknown, the Filipinas made it possible to the World Cup and in just 18 months, a competitive team was assembled by Stajcic.
Thanks to a solid scouting strategy, an even better program and support by management, the path to future World Cups is clearer by now.
It can be done again and the Filipinas being regular fixtures in the tournament is now a possibility. But to accomplish this is another story.
Deep pool of talents
With the amount of publicity and feel-good stories that the Filipinas generated during their campaign in New Zealand, there should be no longer a problem when it comes to introducing the national team to soccer players abroad.
And unlike the predecessors of the team, who really have to bear the brunt of getting little support, if none at all, from both corporate and fans, future Filipinas will continue to reap the rewards helped set into motion by those who played for the national team before them.
Time is also on our side, because we have four full years to assemble the team that will contend for the next world cup.
Plus, the PFF’s grassroots programs are in full swing especially with an upcoming women’s league in the next few weeks.
Filipinas did us proud
Aside from playing their hearts out and putting everything on the pitch, the Filipinas actually have exceeded expectations in more ways than one.
One good basis, however, is that the Philippines has earned the full three points in three games.
As it stands right now, the Republic of Ireland, Costa Rica, Zambia, Haiti, Panama, South Africa, Argentina and South Korea have yet to taste victory in the tournament.
Vietnam, the only other team from Southeast Asia in the tournament, is also winless in two games.
Experience at hand
One of the key reasons why the Philippines lost its games against Switzerland and to Norway is experience. Heart and soul alone are not enough against seasoned and pedigreed teams that are used to to big matches and who have players seeing action in big leagues in Europe and in other parts of the world.
With several Filipinas now playing overseas, this gap will be filled, hopefully, in time for the next big tournament.
Just hoping that they will not go through the consequences of playing in top notch leagues abroad like unavailability, contract prohibitions, club concerns and other reasons that will keep them from playing for the country.
Top notch coaching staff
No need to expound on this. Stajcic has worked wonders for the squad and he is expected to do more.
More sponsors, partners, fan support
Filipinos love winners and because of the strong performance of the Filipinas, more support should come their way in the coming days and not just a few days after the World Cup.
From not being considered as a “liveable” event, the sudden but deserved attention given to the team, like the number of watch parties organized by corporations in many malls, should be a good indication of the much deserved support football needed in the country.
Bottomline
Reaching the World Cup is hard, no doubt about it. But staying there is a lot harder and is the real challenge once the smoke, fanfare and the noise of the World Cup has died down. Fortunately, we have the blueprint, proven strategy and the program to do it all over again but with so much difference unlike the previous ones. Hopefully, these advantages can be put into better use so that when the next World Cup comes, we will have an even better team.
Heck, even other national teams should learn from the Filipinas’ experience. They have not shown only the way but more importantly, it can be still be improved to guarantee more success.