FEATURING some new faces, the Filipinas struggled early and fell short after finding their footing in the second half to absorb a 0-1 licking from a scrappy Taiwanese squad in their friendly match at the newly-refurbished pitch of the Rizal Memorial Stadium late Tuesday night.
In a rare defensive lapse, midfielder Sara Eggesvik’s weak back pass for goalie Olivia McDaniel resulted in the match’s only goal in the 27th minute by Saki Matsunaga, who pounced on the error to score from point-blank range.
The hosts had their chances in the second half as Australian coach Marc Torcaso shuffled his players around but the fleet-footed visitors, whose all-around playing style resembled that of the famed Japanese Nadeshiko, refused to yield to the pressure in preserving the hard-earned win.
These left 3,312 hometown fans who watched the weekday home match – the first in three years – disappointed while spoiling the sterling performance of skipper and top defender Hali Long, who made her 90th cap as a member of the Philippine women’s team.
But Torcaso saw silver linings in the setback, saying: “It is always tough losing any game in any sport but you probably saw the character of these girls in the last 35 minutes of the second half and I can’t doubt the fight in these girls.
“That is actually what we have been doing in the last six months in working hard for each other and we are extremely proud of them.”
He acknowledged missing several key players such as Women’s World Cup veterans Sarina Bolden, Meryll Serrano, Katrina Guillou and Quinley Quezada, who would have made a huge difference in turning the game around but were unavailable for the friendly for various reasons.
“Those girls you mentioned, Meryll, Sarina, Katrina, Quinley – they are all very experienced players and they will be back for the Asian Cup qualifiers and that will be an exciting thing for us,” Torcaso assured.
“We are getting to the point where we want to be and if we deliver that same kind of second-half performance against Hong Kong, Cambodia and Saudi Arabia, we are going to win, and I truly believe that and that is what I told the girls,” he added, referring to the rivals they would face in Group G Asian qualifiers at the end of the month.
Long, 30, was moved in suiting for the national team officially for the 90th time in a journey that started nearly a decade ago, and not giving the hometown gallery the triumph she and the rest of Filipinas aspired for.
“It is a tough loss. It was unfortunate we could not get the win tonight in front of our hometown fans since we haven’t played here in a long time. A bit bittersweet since it has been nearly 10 years,” said the teary-eyed booter.
“It’s so emotional because playing for this team is everything to me. We don’t take any team lightly. Hopefully, we can keep our momentum going to Cambodia and make up for this loss. We just fell short,” she said.
