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By Colin Salao
Medill Experiences
The Philippine girls’s nationwide soccer staff has achieved one thing no different Philippine soccer staff has ever accomplished: qualify for the FIFA World Cup. To do that, they received one of the vital momentous contests over Chinese language Taipei within the quarterfinals of the AFC Girls’s Asian Cup final January.
The Malditas, as they’re referred to as, ranked Sixty fourth earlier than the match and now have lower than 18 months to arrange for a area of the perfect soccer international locations on the earth. However on their method there, they hope to deliver dwelling extra {hardware} for the nation in just a few different tournaments.
AUDIO SCRIPT
Colin Salao: The Philippine girls’s nationwide soccer staff had an opportunity to make historical past when it confronted off in opposition to Chinese language Taipei within the quarterfinals of the AFC Girls’s Asian Cup on Jan. 30. With a win, the Malditas, as they’re usually referred to, secured a spot within the 2023 FIFA World Cup, which might be the nation’s first World Cup berth in both males’s or girls’s soccer or what’s identified in America as soccer.
In accordance with Malditas midfielder Camille Rodriguez, the staff was in a very good psychological state earlier than the sport.
Rodriguez: Getting into the sport, we knew what was at stake, we knew what we would have liked to do. However as loopy because it sounds, we knew additionally, prefer it was simply some other sport.
Salao: And that mentality was seen early on, because the Sixty fourth-ranked Malditas took an early 1-nil lead in opposition to the Thirty ninth-ranked Chinese language Taipei aspect after a Quinley Quezada aim within the forty ninth minute.
-PH Aim Sound Impact-
A little bit of a scramble within the field, after which it finds its method in! Philippines break the impasse. And it’s Quinley Quezada, the quantity 20, scoring the primary aim.
Rodriguez: Scoring the primary aim, that was a loopy second for us this 12 months, “Ito na. Ito na.”
Salao: “Ito na” which means “that is it” in Filipino
Rodriguez: However, you recognize, Chinese language Taipei was capable of equalize in a really, you recognize, you bought to provide to them, it was a really lovely shot on prime of the aim.
– CT Aim Sound Impact-
Late on within the sport, Chinese language-Taipei on the lookout for an equalizer, and what aim that’s! Zhuo Li-ping with an absolute screamer, arguably the aim of the match.
Salao: Right here’s ABS-CBN Desk Editor Camille Naredo, who has coated the Philippine staff since 2018, concerning the equalizer of her nation’s opposition.
Naredo: If I had been a impartial, and I’m not — if I weren’t actively cheering for them to win, I’d have deemed that the aim of the match. As a result of, oh my God, from outdoors the field, curling into the higher left. You simply need to applaud it as a result of initially the audacity to even take that sort of shot that late within the match. Oh my, OK. You understand what you deserve, you’re going high quality.
Salao: That aim was sufficient to maintain the Philippines at bay up till the top of additional time, forcing a penalty shootout, which was unlucky for the Malditas, who had 4 instances extra pictures heading in the right direction than their opponents for the sport.
Rodriguez: You might inform that we had been, I assume the stronger staff as a result of we had been capable of adapt extra, or what will we simply weren’t capable of end their possibilities.
Salao: But it surely solely led to probably the most dramatic penalty shootout, particularly because the Philippines went down early.
Naredo: I used to be on the verge of tears when Hali Lengthy missed that second penalty. I used to be heartbroken for her. And I used to be so upset about what was going to occur as a result of in my thoughts, oh my God, we’re going to lose this match. However then Olivia McDaniel determined that she was going to be a superhero.
Salao: Twenty-four-year-old Olivia McDaniel is the Malditas goalkeeper, but in addition the staff’s fifth penalty kicker. Getting into the fifth and doubtlessly last pair of penalties, the Philippines trailed 3 to 2.
Naredo: So Olivia makes her pen, saves the subsequent penalty, which was, how do you do this? How? It was simply insane to observe. For a stretch of 5 minutes, she saves one pen, makes one pen after which saves one other. I feel for lots of lots of followers, it was the primary time they’ve ever seen that occur.
-Aim Sound Clip-
We head into the penalty shootout, each having scored three and missed two. The sixth for Chinese language-Taipei could be missed by Zhuo Li-ping.
Salao: McDaniel’s save gave the Philippines’ ahead Sarina Bolden the chance to win the sport, however she needed to exorcise some demons with the intention to do it.
Naredo: The sport earlier than in opposition to Indonesia, she missed a penalty. In opposition to Chinese language Taipei, she missed so many possibilities: headers that had been inches huge, strikes which can be like nearly point-blank, however the keeper will get it.
-Sound Impact-
Sarina Bolden with an opportunity to make historical past — and she or he does! The Philippines via to the semifinals and, with it, qualify for the World Cup for the primary time within the staff’s historical past! What a quarterfinals.
Salao: Whereas this single sport propelled the Philippines to new heights in soccer, their excellent efficiency throughout your complete 2022 Asian Cup was what led them to that second.
Naredo: One of the best ways that it has been described was from coach Alen’s Stajcic, the pinnacle coach of the staff. He mentioned after that sport in opposition to South Korea that the staff made historical past nearly each time they stepped onto the sector. And you recognize what he was, he was completely right, as a result of their first match in opposition to Thailand was their first win in opposition to Thailand, ever.
Salao: That was a 1-nil victory within the group stage in opposition to the Thirty eighth-ranked Thailand staff.
Naredo: That match in opposition to Australia was, I feel their first in a decade in opposition to Australia,
Salao: That was 4-0 loss, however to the Eleventh-ranked aspect, which they stored scoreless within the first half.
Naredo: In opposition to Indonesia, they barely eked out a win the final time that they confronted in Indonesia, however they obtained they obtained that match. They received 6-0, so additionally one of many largest margins of victory for the staff.
Salao: However a stark change with this 12 months’s staff was the brand new teaching workers, led by head coach Alen Stajcic, who used to steer the Australian girls’s nationwide soccer staff and helped the Matildas obtain the nation’s first World Cup knockout stage win in 2015.
Rodriguez: It helped that at the beginning the primary three months’ hole earlier than the Asian Cup, we form of had like a sit-down discuss with, you recognize, the brand new teaching workers. I feel it helped that quite a bit. Or everybody on the staff was on the identical web page when it comes to what the targets had been, what the roles had been of everybody.
Salao: The teaching workers was extraordinarily new as Stajcic was appointed on Oct. 26, 2021.
Rodriguez: He entered late October, we met him early November within the States already for camps, so it was all new for us. And we had been all stepping into with sure expectations. I feel if you happen to ask any of us gamers on the sector, we’d all agree that his stage of demand is larger when it comes to accountability in what you do on and off the sector.
After we had been interviewed individually, round, he obtained us in a gathering and like, in a method, you recognize, condensed all the things that we mentioned, and from there, we fashioned a form of, like, staff philosophy that actually set the tone for the remainder of the camp, which I feel is essential, or which I feel was the essential factor about their success within the Asian Cup.
Salao: Stajcic and the Malditas need to proceed to progress rapidly because the World Cup begins in July of 2023.
Rodriguez: Us understanding that now we have 18 months … solely 18 months left is one thing that everybody on the staff is aware of. A lot laborious work’s going to be accomplished, or a lot laborious work wants to come back from us to ensure that us to be there and, you recognize, have a very good exhibiting within the World Cup. We’re going in opposition to groups which can be within the High 10 on the earth, gamers who play year-round. And whenever you have a look at us — gamers who’ve full-time jobs as properly or who’re nonetheless finding out — it’s going to take quite a bit. It’s thrilling what the subsequent 18 months goes to seem like, however it’s additionally a problem.
Salao: However earlier than 2023 rolls round, Rodriguez says the staff appears to make much more historical past on the highway to the World Cup.
Rodriguez: We have now by no means received a medal as a Philippine girls’s nationwide staff. Hopefully this 12 months, that’s the subsequent aim. I imply, the one time we received a bronze medal was within the SEA Video games, however it’s solely as a result of there have been three groups, that was again in like Nineteen Eighties. So there have been three groups and also you’re the final, computerized you get a medal. So, to earn it in current instances, wala pa.
Salao: “Wala pa” which means “none but.”
The Philippine girls’s soccer staff may have their sights set on bringing dwelling some {hardware} within the South East Asian Video games in Might, the ASEAN Soccer Federation Championships in July and the Asian Video games in September. For Medill Experiences, that is Colin Salao.
Colin Salao is a sports activities media graduate scholar at Medill. You may observe him on Twitter at @colinsalao.
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