Tolentin vows stronger effort after PH drops opener vs Poland
Inday Tolentin finally lived the dream on Friday when she joined the Philippines in battle against Poland in the opener of the Fifa (international football federation) Futsal Women’s World Cup.
The fulfilled ambitions—and a 6-0 defeat before home fans at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City—will only push Tolentin to work harder.
“It doesn’t stop here,” she said in Filipino. “I still want to achieve things, not just for myself but for the team.”
Tolentin was one of the few silver linings for the Filipina5, who in the early minutes tried to keep things even with the fancied Polish side until things unravelled.
She had one attempt that hit the post in the early goings while the defense seemed to be holding until Poland found the mark sixth minutes in on Julia Basta’s shot that goalkeeper Samantha Hughes couldn’t stop.
The scoreline stood until close to halftime when a tapper by Natalia Matuzewska made it 2-0, before Poland went on a goal spree in the second half that completed the manhandling of the host squad.
“We’ll take this lesson in stride, hopefully learn from it so that we can step up in our next game,” said Tolentin.
As disappointing as it was on the rough end of the capper to the first night of the inaugural competition, coach Rafa Merino felt the Filipina5 made a good account of themselves.
“We could have changed the way the game was played had we scored on some of our chances,” said Merino through an interpreter. “It would have given us a lot of energy and made Poland doubt a little bit.
“It’s also hard to keep that same energy when you play such a good team as Poland,” added Merino on the team ranked 14th in the Fifa women’s futsal rankings.
Up next for the Filipina5 is Morocco, which fell to the same final tally to perceived Group A favorite Argentina.
