Filipinas seek end to string of futility vs Sokors
The Philippine women’s football team will be shooting for a favorable result against South Korea in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Thursday in Gold Coast, Australia, which would obviously enhance the Filipinas’ chances of getting out of the group stage.
Their Group A match is set at 11 a.m. Philippine time, with the Filipinas to ride the silver linings of a 1-0 loss to host Australia last Sunday in Perth. South Korea is coming off a 3-0 win over Iran to open its own campaign.
This will be the fourth meeting between the two sides since the semifinals of the 2022 Asian Cup in India, where South Korea ended the Philippines’ dream run with a 2-0 victory. The two met twice in a friendly series in Icheon two years ago, with the Filipinas losing, 3-0 and 2-1, in that order.
“We played South Korea about a year and a half ago in two friendlies and we really respect them as an opponent. They’ve got some world-class players,” said coach Mark Torcaso. “But we’re really focusing on us and what we can do, not necessarily worrying so much about the opponent [which was what we did] against Australia as well.”
“We were really determined to focus on us,” Torcaso said. “And the same thing will be for South Korea.”
Dreaming of KO stage
While an upset would be momentous, it would also boost the Filipinas’ chances of reaching the knockout stage, where the six berths to the Fifa Women’s World Cup will be at stake.
The Filipinas can afford a loss, but not a severe one that may put them in an iffy situation before facing Iran to close the group stage.
The top two teams advance to the quarterfinals, while the two best third-placers from the three groups will also go through.
Both the Philippines and Iran are outside the top two in Group A, with their counterparts at press time in Group B being Bangladesh and Uzbekistan and Chinese-Taipei and India in Group C.
“We’re really determined to get out of the group, because we know that can set us up to go to another World Cup,” said Torcaso. “We’ve stuck to our collective, disciplined, connected sort of mentality, and we’ve been enforcing this not just in our camp, but in the SEA Games, and we saw the success that our young girls had. So we will continue to build on that.”
