Pre Game Quotes Coach Alen: "We’ve begun the camp in Costa Rica but it's a beautiful place with such a rich football history and culture. Their National Training Centre is amazing and its clear to see both their love of the game and why they have been so successful lately in both Men's and Women's International Football. Costa Rica has a traditional Latin playing style with lots of flair and players with excellent technique. It will be a great opportunity for us to play a Team with World Cup experience and one that is filled with players with high level passing and dribbling qualities. We are looking forward to the challenge of playing them on their home turf. The motivations of the team are at an all time high and confidence too is in a good place. We now know we can compete with the likes of New Zealand and Ireland. The next step is to start beating these higher ranked teams. With a few injuries and bouts of illness in the Team this week, it will be a great test of our depth and flexibility in the team." Our now 17 y.o prodigy Chayze Ying arrived late to training camp. I am not sure her Philippine documents are ready though so she might not be able to play in any of the Costa Rica friendlies. Her father Jerry Ying who is an actor/director/producer in Hollywood posted on facebook the lengths they went thru to get her birth certificate amended so her mother's name is listed on it last month before the NZ training camp. "I am inspired beyond by the power of community and the service of those that work for our local and state government. 11 days ago I posted a last ditch Hail Mary request for help trying to get an amended birth certificate for Chayse from the Dept of Public Health. If you know our family it's been a major crux for us and it's the linchpin for Chayse being able to join the Philippine national team for training camp. The wheels were put in motion by a carpool mom Mia Trachinger, a retired Fire Chief Captain, Seb Wong, Los Feliz council person Meggan Ellingboe, and a former college soccer coach, Matt Baehr. They connected us to our local CA state representative Laura Friedman's office, Asm Philip Ting's office of the 19th district, and who I affectionately now refer to as The Wolf of Sacramento, Sandra Giarde. They showed us what a beautiful thing government can be when it works. I never imagined elected officials could actually help us or care about our day to day challenges. Sarojini Lall and Seamus Garrity in Rep Friedman's office not only care but can go above and beyond for their constituents. When normal channels didn't seem to be enough and because we were under a time crunch, they rolled in Governor Newsom's office and LA County supervisor Kathryn Barger's office to flank the Dept of Health. At this point we were so overwhelmed by the activation that we could have lived with not getting her bc in time and been okay with Chayse losing the opportunity to possibly play in next summer's World Cup. But miracles can happen and ours was express mailed to us over the weekend! Chayse was immediately allowed to join training camp and got to play in her first game with them last night. She checked in at halftime and did her thing. We are overwhelmed by the support and swift actions of so many and grateful beyond. This opportunity for Chayse is of course great but also the closing of this chapter of our story is even greater. Thank you thank you to all who supported. We will always remember this experience and everyone involved. Just know that you can literally pick up a phone and call your local representatives and they will pick up and hear what you have to say. I'm still blown away. With love - the Yings" I am not sure just anybody can get the same response from their state official and reps for just one individual case. Certainly not from my experience and from what I have read many of our other players took a lot longer(in some cases years) before their documents were finished. I am sure in this case some of this California elected officials will expect some political contributions down the line.
FT Philippines 1-1 Costa Rica Lucky draw for the Philippines as they equalized at the very last minute in OT courtesy of Guillou helping them get a positive away result. Philippine goalkeeper McDaniel is my woman of the match while keeping Costa Rica at bay as the latter had most of the possession and the chances especially in the 1st half.
The Philippines fielded an experimental lineup with Bolden being only subbed in the last 10 minutes. They still managed a last minute goal by Guillou courtesy of an assist by goalkeeper and woman of the match Olivia McDaniel.
Liv was damn impressive this match. I'm glad to see she's settling into goal more. I remember her looking much more raw 6-7 months ago.
She has played a big part in the Filipinas rise solidifying the goaltender position and directly responsible for helping the team qualify to the World Cup with her PK shootout heroics in the clinching qualifying win against Taiwan. I think among the few players still without a professional contract from abroad on the team she is the one who absolutely deserves one with her consistent play. She is still considered bigger than most goalies(as one of the Costa Rica fans pointed out) but she has noticeably improved on her fitness since she first started playing for the team looking a lot leaner now despite not playing professionally between training camps.
During the Asian Cup, the AFC posted this stat on Feb 13: AFC Asian Cup Save % = % = best of any GK who made more than two appearances! Olivia McDaniel boasted a pair of safe hands at #WAC2022
Congrats to Yale Bulldog Alum(2022 grad) Reina Bonta for getting her first cap against Costa Rica nearly scoring a goal of a corner kick. https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=849020349803824 She first tried out for the Philippine national youth teams years ago back when she was still 14 y.o. along with some of her teammates on the PWNT Cowart, Miclat, Chandler McDaniel and former US U20 national team captain and current NWSL OL Reign starting centerback Sam Hiatt. She is also a budding film director, producer and photographer whose debut film LAHI(race or legacy in Tagalog) was accepted at the Hawaii International Film Festival, Twin Cities Film Festival, San Diego Film Festival and has secured streaming distribution with renowned Asian American owned production company, Electric Entertainment, for release in 2023. Her father who was also a Yale U varsity soccer player is current California Atty. Gen Rob Bonta who is the first Fil American to enter the California State Legislature and become Attorney General of California.
There sure are a lot of smart players and over achievers on the PWNT pool including the 2 medical students and starting midfielders Sara Eggesvik and Ryley Bugay(graduated cum laude in undergrad and is not in training camp because she could no longer defer her med school studies), grad student Maya Alcantara(who is the starting centerback for nationally ranked #18 Georgetown U), Yale Univ alum Reina Bonta and Cornell U student Reinna Gabriel.
FT Costa Rica 2-1 Philippines The Filipinas scored in the first half but let in 2 goals in the 2nd half including a Costa Rican PK. It could have been another draw but Filipina captain Tahnai Annis missed a goal on their own PK early in the 2nd half which would have given them a 2-0 lead. I noticed that the Costa Ricans scheduled the game at noon time which is a tactic they used quite effectively when facing the US at home because they know that the Fil Am and Fil Euros on the Philippine team will have a hard time adjusting to the heat and humidity at their stadium especially in the 2nd half. They also fielded another experimental and very young lineup(2 teenagers and the 20 y.o. Frilles who scored the goal) giving only limited minutes to the usual starters like Sarina Bolden and Quinley Quezada and to make up for the loss of a few key players like Sawicki and Bugay(both defensive mids) to injury and med school. They also expect to add pros like Amanda Beard and Merryl Abrahamsen who usually start in the top tier in Europe in Denmark and Norway respectively as well as promising youngster Chayze Ying when their passports become available in the next few months.
Post game comments by Coach Staj "It's great experience to come to a beautiful country and football loving culture like Costa Rica. It was tough for us on the pitch with 8-9 injuries and illnessed in the squad. We showed some flexibility in our squad with different combinations and players playing in different roles," said Stajcic as the camp concluded earlier this week. "I believe we competed well against an experienced World Cup opponent, however it's clear we need to improve the technical part of our game," said Stajcic. "The team showed great heart, commitment and discipline which we are pleased with excellent experience overall playing a Latin American Country for the first time ever (away from home) and proving once again that we are constantly working hard and improving for the upcoming World Cup," he continued.
The Philippines will know the countries it will face in its historic FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance next year when the official draw for the tournament is staged at the Aotea Center in downtown Auckland on Saturday. Having qualified following a semifinal finish in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India early this year, the Filipinas are one of the five debutantes in the most prestigious women’s football tournament in the world that will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20, 2023. “It’s a really exciting time for Philippine football as we will finally determine which teams we will be facing in our first FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance,” said PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta. “To be part of the tournament is already a tremendous honor for the country, but we also have to dream big and come up with a good showing,” he added. From 24 teams, the 2023 tournament has been expanded to 32 countries with 29 already punching their tickets to the competition. Three more countries will qualify through the inter-continental playoff in February next year. PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes said the draw will help the federation plot the remaining months in preparing the team for the World Cup. “We will definitely pull out all the stops to ensure that the team will go into the World Cup as prepared as possible,” Gastanes said. PWNT team manager Jefferson Cheng and head coach Alen Stajcic will be in attendance for the draw that will be graced by no less than FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The 29 qualified teams and three playoff tournament placeholders have been placed into four pots of eight teams each, based on the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings. With its No. 53 ranking, the Filipinas have been placed in Pot 4 together with four African qualifiers. The three placeholders for the playoff tournament winners will be allocated to Pot 4. FIFA’s general principle in the tournament states that teams from the same qualifying zone cannot be drawn into the same group, except for Europe. This means the Filipinas cannot be in a group with fellow AFC teams Australia, Korea Republic, Japan, China and Vietnam. With 11 teams from Europe (possibly 12 pending inter-confederation play-off results), each group will have a minimum of one team from UEFA with three (and potentially four) groups having two European teams. Teams will be randomly drawn into eight groups, A through H, with each group containing four teams. Each group will contain one team drawn at random from each pot, except for New Zealand and Australia, which will head Groups A and B, respectively. The other teams in Pot 1 are top-ranked United States, No. 2 Sweden, third-ranked Germany, No. 4 England, fifth-ranked France and sixth-ranked Spain. Pot 2 is composed of Canada (No. 7), Netherlands (No. 8), Brazil (No. 9), Japan (No. 11), Norway (No. 12), Italy (No. 14), China (No. 15) and Korea Republic (No. 17). Denmark (No. 18), Switzerland (No. 21), Republic of Ireland (No. 24), Colombia (No. 27), Argentina (No. 29), Vietnam (No. 34), Costa Rica (No. 37) and Jamaica (No. 43) are in Pot 3. The other teams in Pot 4 are Nigeria (No. 45), South Africa (No. 54), Morocco (No. 76), Zambia (No. 81).
It is official. The Philippines were drawn in Grp A with New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland which is I think is a good group for the Philippines to be in comparatively. The Philippines nearly defeated New Zealand in a recent friendly so it is a team they could potentially have a win over. They just need to score an upset from one of the other 2 European teams to advance which is going have tall odds which I hope they can overcome.
The best they could hope for. Their chances of advancing has just improved since I think they can be competitive with #21 Switzerland and #22 New Zealand.
I am sure the 2 Fil Norwegians on the PWNT, Sara Eggesvik and Meryl Serrano Abrahamsen are celebrating right now and the Norwegian press will probably be interested in interviewing them as well.
They also lucked out in being situated entirely in New Zealand. Some of the teams in Australia will have to travel 2000 miles for their next fixture after the first game in their group.
I found an article in Avisa Nordland behind paywall with Sara Eggesvik's thoughts on the draw. On her reaction to the draw: "This was fun. I hoped we would draw Norway. I have played with a bunch of these players before, so it would be extra fun to be involved in that game." On being a member of the Filipinas: "It's a very professional setting with good coaches. They have high expectations and standards and cater for us so we can give it our best and be strong as a team." On extra motivation of playing Norway: "Definitely. After the draw, it all became more real. Now I need to train and stay focused in the coming months, because the World Cup will come quickly. It will be a fun summer - if I'm selected! I've done quite well in the games I've played, and I'll do my best to be included, but you can't take a spot on a national team for granted." On describing the Filipinas for those who are not familiar with the team: "We are strong and structured as a team unit. Just look at us. We have a strong defence and quick forwards, but I'm not giving away any more details!"
Thanks she also posted on social media. I like the fact that she is focused on being the best player that she can for the WWC. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=5585747721492619&set=p.5585747721492619&type=3
Eggesvik didn't mention anything about a new club, but I suppose she keeps an open mind for offers that might come her way over the next weeks.
She is still taking classes at her med school at least with only a few subjects in a reduced schedule so she might not have the time to play pro but it sounds like she is still focused on preparing for the WWC even joining training sessions with her former 1st Division club Helme near where she lives when she can.
Sara made a separate translation of your article on facebook. It mentions there that she has a special arrangement with her med school(NTNU) which allows her to be away a lot. It will apparently take her twice as long to finish her studies. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160302967205907&set=pcb.493232029526940
Yesterday, Meryll Abrahamsen played her first game this season. She came on as a 78th minute substitute in Arna Bjørnar's 3-1 win against Avaldsnes.
Fil Norwegian Merryl Abrahamsen's former clubs battled each other this weeked in a relegation battle with her current club Arna Bjørnar prevailing over her former club Avaldsnes 3-1 assuring the former of a continued spot in the Toppserien next season while the latter battle it out for the last two spots next Sunday. Personally it looks like she has finally recovered from her long term injury(out since March) as she has been listed as being part of the playing roster but she hasn't been fielded in the final few games of the year so far. Nevertheless this opens the door for her finally playing in the November friiendlies for the Philippines.