AUSTRALIAN coach Mark Torcaso, who calls the shots for the Filipinas, and his staff have been in Los Angeles since Nov. 27 and will be there until Dec. 5 to conduct a training camp -cum tryouts, according to national women’s team manager Jeff Cheng.
“Coach Mark and his staff will conduct a training camp as well as national team tryouts, similar to what we did in December 2020 after we qualified for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup,” said Cheng.
“This way, we will be able to replenish our national pool with fresh blood and new faces for future international competitions,” he added.
The Filipinas made great strides the past two years, highlighted by reaching the semifinals of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India in January 2022 to book a historic ticket to the 2024 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Among the products of the camp held then were the McDaniel siblings, goalkeeper Olivia and striker Chandler; Katrina Gillou, Sarina Bolden, Jessica Miclat and Malea Cesar, among others.
The same core of players also bagged a bronze medal in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May 2022, then followed it up with another sensational triumph, ruling the AFF Women’s Championship for the first time with an emphatic 3-0 win over Thailand in the finale at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in July.
After 18 months under former Australian tactician Alen Stajcic, including numerous tuneup matches across the globe that took them to Europe, North and Latin America, the Filipinas proudly made their memorable historic debut in the Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to Aug. 20.
