The Philippine national women’s football team will put emphasis on fitness and preparation after bombing out of the 2024 AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday in Australia.
Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso said they will be making sure that the players will have a lot of time to train and stay fit after seeing action in two tournaments after their historic campaign in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In the Olympic Qualifiers, the Filipinas made a strong finish after beating Iran, 1-0, in their final game in Group A.
But they still missed the bus headed for the third round after ending the second round with a goal difference of -4 built on a 2-0-1 win-draw-loss record.
Uzbekistan, which finished with the same record as the Filipinas, had a better goal difference with +2, enough to join Australia, North Korea and Japan in the final stage of the qualifiers in February.
“The fitness levels of our players compared to the players in other teams is something we will think about in the next tournaments. We’re just making sure the players are prepared for that because we saw even in the Aussie game that we ran out of legs,” Torcaso said.
“We just have to roll with the punches and get ready for the next competition.”
With Torcaso only joining the team last August, the Filipinas had to make the most of their time to prepare for the 19th Asian Games and the Olympic qualifiers.
Under his leadership, the Philippines was still able to make it to the quarterfinal of the Asian Games despite closing its campaign with a nightmarish 1-8 loss to Japan.
In the second round of the Olympic qualifiers, the Filipinas started on a high note with a 4-1 win over Chinese Taipei but got a reality check after they got thrashed by the Australians, 0-8.
The Philippines had one more chance to boost its Paris bid but it resulted in a 1-0 win over Iran, thanks to Sarina Bolden, who emerged as the squad’s top scorer with five goals.
Torcaso admitted having former Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic watching their match against the Iranians was truly an honor.
He, however, said he would stick with his style and give the team a new identity.
“I had a lot of contact with Alen when he was the head coach. He was someone who I always looked up to as a coach in the women’s game,” Torcaso said.
“Without getting too involved in what Alen did to the team, I want to keep my way of coaching separately.”
