WITH a lot of young faces sprinkled with veterans from the last AFC Women’s Asian Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Filipinas will aim to write new history as they defend their crown in the MISG Serenity Cup kicking off on Aug. 6 in Vietnam.
“Of course, we will go there with the intention to win; we want to defend the title. We know how important it is for the country,” Australian coach Marc Torcaso said of their bid to retain the country’s first major international championship it won three years ago at the historical Rizal Memorial Stadium.
With the absence of some key players such as strikers Sarina Bolden and Katrina Guillou for various reasons, Torcaso is banking on some of the mainstays such as midfielder Quinley Quezada and forward Chandler McDaniel to step up and lead the Nationals’ campaign.
“While we won’t have some of our veterans like Sarina and Katrina, this tournament will provide some of our younger players an opportunity to play at the senior level in international football,” added the Aussie mentor during the national team send-off at the Studio 300 bowling center in Makati Saturday night.
He cited Quezada for welcoming the younger players with open arms, while McDaniel, who found her scoring touch and was pivotal for the Nationals in booking a spot in the Asian Cup in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Cambodia, will be the squad’s anchors.
“The young girls can draw a lot from the experience of Quinley from the Asian Cup and World Cup while Chandler has really done well, especially at the back end of the qualifiers,” Torcaso noted.
Among the other veterans who will be around as stabilizers of the Filipinas in Vietnam are goalkeepers Olivia McDaniel, NinnaMeolo and Inna Palacios, skipper and premier defender Hali Long, backrow teammate Kaya Hawkinson and midfielder Malea Cesar.
The Filipinas’ head coach said that among the young players who could make an impact in the MISG Serenity Cup are Isabella Pasion, 19, and AlessandreaCarpio, 20.
“This is really a test for our young girls to see how good they are and if they will be in contention for the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Cup,” Torcaso said, pointing out that “Sarina and Katrina were once young girls themselves.”
The other members of the team are Isabella Alamo, LykaCuenco, Janae and Jaycee Defazio, Charisa Lemoran, Adelaide Wyrzynski, Nina Mathelus, Azumi Oka, Tea Pidding, Aliana Weibel, Aaliyah Schinaman and DionesaTolentin.
The Nationals open their campaign in Group B against Timor Leste on Aug. 7 at the Viet Tri Stadium in the city of Phu To, take on the Australian Under-23 squad three days later, before winding up the preliminaries against Myanmar on Aug. 13.
