Do not count the Philippines out.
The Filipinas proved that they belonged to the biggest football stage in the world as they pulled off a shocking 1-0 victory over co-host New Zealand in the preliminaries of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday at the jampacked Sky Stadium in Wellington.
Sarina Bolden struck hard, taking a nifty cross from Sara Eggesvik to deliver a header in the 24th minute that goalkeeper Victoria Esson struggled to stop, the ball fumbling out of her hand and flipping straight into the net.
Shortly after slotting the historic goal — the first ever for the Philippines in the World Cup — Bolden sprinted wildly towards her teammate while majority of the more than 32,000 hometown crowd could only watch in horror and disbelief.
New Zealand tried to push hard for the equalizer but goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel came up with timely saves to earn the Woman of the Match honors and preserve the historic victory.
Jacqui Hand also came up with a potential game-tying header in the 68th minute when McDaniel was caught out of position, but it was ruled offside by Mexican referee Katia Garcia after reviewing the play with the Virtual Assistant Referee, much to the Filipinas’ relief.
Grace Jale also tried to level the count at 1-1 in the second minute of added time but McDaniel again deflected the ball, extinguishing any hopes of a comeback for the Football Ferns.
“This must be a special moment in (Philippine football history), the biggest win in any team sport,” stressed Australian coach Alen Stajcic of the enormity of the victory.
Later, he admitted that luck rolled their way and helped them pulled off a gigantic upset of New Zealand, the 26th best team in the world that beat them in a friendly match last September, 2-1.
“Of course, we rode our luck because New Zealand had three or four unbelievable chances. There was that VAR call, an inside the post goal (that McDaniel was able to save),” Stajcic, whose wards will wrap up their pool play against Norway on Sunday at Eden Park, recalled.
“But the unity, work rate and heart of team was special. We had some luck but we earned that luck.”
McDaniel said they knew that the Football Ferns will go hard at them, especially since they are beaming with confidence after posting a 1-0 victory over Norway — their first World Cup win in 22 years — in the opener last week at Eden Park.
SARINA Bolden celebrates after powering the Philippines to a 1-0 win over New Zealand in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. | MARTY MELVILLE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“We really put our head down and we knew what was really coming at us,” said McDaniel, who are coming off a 0-2 setback to Switzerland in the opener.
“New Zealand would be coming hard from their momentum of their win over Norway but we put our head down and came in focused. We had a goal in mind and we achieved it.”
She also chose to share her trophy with the rest of her team and the country, saying: “This is just what I have done, this is what the team has done and what the country has done. It was a team win.”
“It is amazing but hopefully this is not the last accolade we will win. It is a team win.”
As what she would do with her trophy, the plucky goalkeeper, still euphoric from the victory, quipped: “Hopefully we will keep it next to the World Cup trophy when we get it.”
She, however, admitted that she had some anxious moments when Hand’s pointblank goal was being reviewed by the referee on the VAR.
“We collective held our breath a minute or two,” McDaniel said.
“Such an incredible goal by them but we are grateful that it was called back and we had to move forward. We had to settle down and knew that would keep coming and we to make sure that it would not happen again.”
With Switzerland and Norway settling on a scoreless draw at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, the Filipinas have a handsome chance of making it to the Last 16.
Switzerland has four points with one win and a draw and both the Philippines and New Zealand got three points each in Group A after their respective wins.
Norway only had a point in two games, thanks to a draw and star striker Ada Hergerberg was pulled out of the match after a last-minute injury before kick-off.
A win by the Filipinas and the Swiss beating the Kiwis will give the Philippines the elusive spot in the knockout stages.
