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MANILA, Philippines – Even a decorated football coach like Alen Stajcic couldn’t help but put the Philippines’ historic World Cup triumph on top of his career milestones.
Stajcic – the Australian coach who steered the Matildas to the quarterfinals of both the Olympics and the Women’s World Cup in previous editions – marveled at the Filipinas’ 18-month turnaround.
“Beating the host nation in a World Cup, no question, it’s No. 1,” said Stajcic after the Philippine women’s football team hacked out a 1-0 upset of New Zealand in Group A action on Tuesday, July 25.
The feat also made the Philippines the first debutant team to win in this year’s world showpiece.
Other World Cup first-timers like Ireland, Zambia, Haiti, Vietnam, Portugal, Panama, and Morocco have played a match each so far, but they all dropped their opening assignments, leaving them still without a point.
“When you hear the stories of how long it has taken other teams to win World Cup matches – New Zealand, I think [they won after] their 15th or 16th match, so that’s what, five or six World Cups…
“To think that we’ve dominated our second match in our first World Cup, you can’t really appreciate how far we’ve come back from in the pack together with those countries, in terms of their football history, their culture, their investment in women’s football.”
Stajcic credited the entire team led by striker Sarina Bolden, who scored the winner on a header, and goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel, who won the Woman of the Match honors for her timely saves in the thriller.
“For us to be able to do this in 18 months… The unity and work rate and heart from the team is special, and we had some luck, but we also earned our luck,” he said.
“For that, it’s just a special moment in the history of Philippines’ team sport.”
With the Filipinas’ victory, and former champion Norway mustering only a scoreless draw against Switzerland in the other Group A duel, the Round of 16 door remains wide open for the Philippines.
Only the top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout round.
The Philippines currently sits at third with 3 points and a -1 goal difference (GD) behind Switzerland (4 points, +2 GD) and New Zealand (3 points).
“The job is not done and it’s very important that we switch back into competition mode and figure out what we need to do in the last game to try and squeeze out of this group,” said Stajcic.
The Philippines will battle 1995 champion Norway on Sunday, July 30, 3 pm (Philippine time), at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. – Rappler.com
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