MASAM SPORTS 28: FILIPINAS' HISTORIC ENTRY TO THE FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2023
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 01 Feb 2022
History was achieved when the Philippine women's national football team defeated Chinese Taipei, 4-3, in an exhilarating penalty shootout at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India, to advance to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 to be held in Australia/New Zealand.
At the AFC Women's Asian Cup quarter-final the match had to resort to penalties after the scores were tied at 1-1 after extra time.
Goal-keeper Olivia McDaniel blocked the two penalty kicks from Chinese Taipei and Sarina Bolden netted the winning goal.
It seemed that the Philippines was heading to frustration when Chinese Taipei was ahead 3-2 after the Philippines' Jessica Miclat and Hali Long had their kicks saved. A luckless attempt by Hsu Yi-Yun revived the Filipinas' dying dream.
McDaniel enhanced the team's enthusiasm by stopping the shot of Su Sin-Yun then firing the penalty kick that tied the score at 3-all. The Fil-Am then saved another kick by Zhuo Li-Ping, resulting in Bolden to shoot for the point that sent the Filipinas to the Women's World Cup for the first time in Philippine football history.
"It's an unbelievable moment for the group," said head coach Alen Stajcic, who just took over the helm of the women's football team just last October, as quoted by ABS-CBN Sports. "Now every young kid back home in the Philippines can be inspired… We're really proud of each other, but we're even more proud that we've inspired the next generation."
The Philippines advanced in the Asian Cup, where they will play South Korea in the semifinals. The Koreans eliminated pre-tournament favorite Australia.
The Filipinas almost had the game in the bag in regulation when Quinley Quezada scored a goal off a Katrina Guillou header four minutes after the restart to place the Filipinas ahead, 1-0.
Chinese Taipei, which is world ranked 39th, tied the score when Zhuo netted an impressive goal in the 82nd minute, from the top left corner, which McDaniel couldn't poke out.
"It hasn't really hit me yet," said McDaniel. "It's surreal. I'm just really proud of this team. To be able to create history like this… It was just a dream a couple of months ago, but now it's reality."
The women's team performed superbly in this tournament. They won against Thailand, 1-0, their first victory over the Southeast Asian team in 13 encounters. They lost 0-4 to the tough Australians, then advanced to the knockout round with a 6-0 annihilation of Indonesia in their final game in Group B elimination.
The sweetest triumph was over powerhouse Chinese Taipei because it guaranteed the Filipinas, ranked 64th in the world, of the significant first-ever entry to the FIFA Women's World Cup.
This is also the first time the Philippine football team qualified for a World Cup of any gender.
The Philippines women's football team has been known as the "Malditas" (Feisty ladies).The nickname was adopted by the team during their participation in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games under head coach Ernest Nierras. Nierras used the moniker to describe the lady players' valorous attitudes.
As the term "maldita" could be interpreted as "bratty", when head coach Marlon Maro took over he has proposed the replacement of the nickname. Maro thought the Malditas monicker to be invective.
When Maro departed in 2021, the proposal was not finalized and the members of the national team at that time preferred to maintain the nickname.
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