Football News: Philippines Nets Long-Standing Goal By Securing World Cup Berth

The Philippines will be making its maiden debut on the world stage of football after its women’s team clinched a spot in the FIFA Women’s World Cup set for 2023.

The feat, never before achieved by either the men’s or women’s team, is slowly turning into an eye-opener for sports fans in the country as their performance has captured the hearts and minds of the nation’s citizens.

Kicking off their bid for a spot in the Women’s World Cup, the Filipinas defeated Thailand for the first time in its history with a score of 1-0 before falling 4-0 to the powerhouse Australian team.

The Filipinas would then bounce back with a 6-0 victory over Indonesia then securing their spot in the tournament with their first-ever win over the Chinese Taipei women’s national team in a nail-biting finish in the quarterfinals of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup this past Sunday, January 30.

After a 1-1 draw at the end of regulation, the match went into 30 minutes of extra time with no movement on the scoreboard for either side, forcing the match into a penalty shootout.

24-year-old forward Sarina Bolden secured the win, and her country’s first-ever World Cup berth, after slotting in the ball just out of reach of Chinese Taipei keeper Cheng Ssu-Yu for a 4-3 score.

The overwhelming underdogs are proving that their country can excel in the sport of football, arguably more so than basketball, thanks to their performance.

Despite its ongoing love affair with basketball, football was in the heart of the Filipinos over a century ago and Paulino Alcantara remains the sport's icon in the archipelago.

The Barcelona icon spent 15 years with the club (1912-1927) and scored 395 goals in 399 appearances, which led to his recognition by the club as one of its first icons when he decided to hang up the boots for good in order to become a doctor.

Sadly, the lack of financial support for football in the 1970s allowed basketball to gain a foothold in the country.

Philippine football was later brought back to mainstream appeal in the mid-2000s and the sport continued to grow, with the goal of making it to the FIFA World Cup.

The fact that it was the women’s team who first made it to the world stage speaks volumes of the bright future ahead for the sport if it continues to receive more support in the coming years.

Now that the weight of making the World Cup has been lifted off their shoulders, the Philippine women’s national team will have nothing to lose in their quest of bringing home the AFC Women’s Asian Cup title as they face regional powerhouse South Korea in the semifinals on Thursday, February 3.