GIVEN a reality check after the Filipina5’s winless stint in the AFC Women’s Asian Futsal Cup in Hohhot, China, Spanish coach Rafa Rodriguez acknowledged yesterday that his charges still have a long road to go before competing in the 1st FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup in November.
“I think we are not yet ready (now) for the World Cup. It will be very difficult, playing against the best teams in the world,” Rodriguez admitted in a story posted on the AFC website yesterday.
The Filipinas started on the right foot, pushing defending champion Iran to the limit before dropping a close 0-1 decision in their opening Group B match at the Hohhot Sports Center.
But their performance went downhill from there, absorbing a 0-3 loss to Vietnam, the Asean women’s titleholder; before ending their outing with a 3-7 whitewash at the hands of Hong Kong over the weekend.
Tasked last January to bring the Nationals into competitive form, Rodriguez was realistic about their World Cup chances, saying” “Our objective is not to win the World Cup, it is to improve and learn in women’s futsal in the Philippines because this will be a long process; maybe in 10 years’ time, we can challenge in a World Cup, but not now.”
With the experiences and lessons learned in playing against high-caliber opposition in the Women’s Asian Futsal Cup, the Spanish tactician said that “there are many things that we need to improve – we need to gain more experience to better cope with the stress and nerves of playing important games in important tournaments.
“I believe in hard work, so the plan is to work hard and train harder, improve and learn from this tournament. But I am very happy with the players, because they tried their best in every game, and also in training. They can be proud of their efforts.”
He emphasized that there was much room for improvement, “but we need to have plans and to work hard. It is very important to play more friendly games against good teams; maybe there weren’t enough games in our preparations for this tournament.
“We plan to go to Europe, maybe in Spain or Portugal, but the idea is to play friendlies against strong teams.”
