BACKED by the football-playing daughters of businessman-sportsman Mikee Romero, Milka and Mandy, the Capital1 Solar Strikers aim to gain equal footing with the top guns when they make their debut in the Philippine Football Federation Women’s League this weekend.
“This is like full circle for both me and my sister Mandy because football has always been our first love,” Milka, a former Ateneo varsity striker and co-team skipper, said yesterday during the formal presentation of the team at the Out of Office Restaurant and Bar in Taguig City.
“I actually am on the official roster that will be playing for the team while Mandy will be the team manager,” added Milka, referring to her younger sibling seated beside her who sported a protective boot on her left foot after injuring it in a recreational match over the weekend.
“It is the time for women’s football and we want to show our local girls that they have something for them and that we are here to support them,” Mandy said.
The Romero siblings noted that yesterday actually marked the first year of the Capital 1 Solar Spikers in the Premier Volleyball League “and now we are expanding our brand into football.”
“The entry of the Capital 1 Solar Strikers is definitely a big boost to the PFF Women’s League and local women’s football,” stressed Philippine Football Federation John Gutierrez, who was presented the team jersey during the media launch.
Just like their approach to volleyball, the Romeros aim to make their club competitive by hiring no less than prominent former national women’s football coach and multi-titled tactician Lelet Dimzon to call the shots for the fledgling side.
“When the Romero sisters asked me to be the coach of the Capital 1 Solar Strikers, I had no second thoughts of handling the team because this is a new challenge for me,” said Dimzon, whose squad will be reinforced by 10 players from her UAAP side, the FEU Lady Tamaraws.
Among them is starting FEU goalkeeper Yasmin Elauria, who has played a key role in the squad retaining the UAAP women’s football crown for the third straight year.
The Capital 1 Solar Strikers have also tapped two American players with vast playing experience: midfielder Arianna del Moral, whose last stint was with Birkara FC in the women’s Maltese First Division, and defender Emma Young, who played varsity for Mississippi College.
“It is an honor for me to play for the Capital 1 Solar Strikers and celebrate my birthday here,” said Del Moral, who marked her 26th birthday yesterday and is competing for the first time in the Philippines.
“Actually, it was a pretty decision to come over and play for Capital 1 and go over to this part of the world and play for a great coach,” Young, a former Great South Conference Defensive Player of the Week, said.
Dimzon said that with many players on her FEU side plus a sprinkling of other standouts such as Ateneo and La Salle, “we hope to contend with the top PFF Women’s League clubs such as Kaya-Iloilo and Stallion Laguna.
“There is not much pressure on us being a new team, but we do aim to be competitive as the players gain chemistry and proper conditioning.”
