PH U16 women’s football team to compete in AFC qualifier

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine national Under-16 women’s squad is set to compete in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) women’s championship qualifying round for their age group from October 5 to 9 in Malaysia.

Twenty-one member nations of the AFC will take part in the tournament with hopes of qualifying for the final stage in 2015.

This year, the team will be boosted by standouts from the historic U14 squad that finished second in the ASEAN Regional Championship last June.

According to their head coach Joyce Landagan, the team that will represent the Philippines in the upcoming tournament is a mixture of the previous and current U14 squad.

A total of 11 girls from this year’s U14 team namely Itsuko Bacatan, Jennifer Baroin, Yasmin Elauria, Patricia Francisco, Tejanee Isulat, Jan Reese Jumawan, Tenelyn Otom, Joyce Semacio, Arantxa Trebol, Annika Velez and Lindsay Whaley will be joining the country’s campaign in the competition.

Meanwhile, Joannah Adao, Joanna Almeda, Bianca Almeda, Icee Calimbo, Riza Carmona, Alexa Ceniza, Kaitlyn Dabalos, Angela De Luna, Cecile Deita, Mikhaela Jumawan, Natasha Lacson, Khryztel Muring make up the rest of the team.

Housed in Group D, the Young Malditas will be competing against their counterparts from Cambodia, Myanmar and Chinese Taipei.

After an impressive finish in the last international tournament that the country’s women’s football program took part of, the delegation has high hopes going into the tourney as they are scheduled to compete with two familiar foes Cambodia and Myanmar.

The young lady booters of the Philippines will kick-off their campaign for the qualifiers of the AFC U16 Women’s Championship with a match against Myanmar on October 5 at the Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka, Malaysia. – Rappler.com