After its modest stint in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, the Philippine national women’s football team now sets its sights on the second round of the 2024 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Perth, Australia from 26 October to 1 November.
Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso said in an interview yesterday that the recent Asiad stint allowed them to gauge themselves for the Olympic qualifier.
The Philippines ended its Asian Games run after a 1-8 loss to Japan at the Wenzhou Sports Stadium Centre in Wenzhou, China.
Five starters in the Philippine team had left Hangzhou before the game against Japan to return to their respective clubs.
“We’ll spend a little bit of time over the next two weeks preparing because it’s a very short turnaround. We’re looking forward to the opportunity of going to Australia and playing in this Olympic qualifier and giving ourselves a chance to make it to the Olympics,” Torcaso said.
“We took a lot of findings in this competition and it would have been really hard to go into the Olympic qualifiers without going through this opportunity to play in the Asian Games. To have this opportunity to play makes the players see what their strengths are and their weaknesses are.”
The Filipinas join Iran, Chinese Taipei and the Australians in Group A with the top team of the group advancing to the third round while the best second place team of the round advancing as well.
Torcaso said having the girls play in front of the crowd in the Asiad will only help them against the Australians at the 60,000-seater Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia.
“These girls are focused on the outcome and it will serve them in those kinds of things,” Torcaso said.
