It is not hyperbolic to state that Alen Stajcic and his staff have become miracle workers in Philippine football ever since they were put in charge of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team last year.
They took an international side languishing in obscurity to a semifinal finish in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, which secured a ticket for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, as well as a bronze medal in the 31st Southeast Asian Games.
Now, on home soil, they directed the Filipinas to the finals of the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship in memorable fashion: four straight wins in the group stage and an incredulous 4-0 upset against defending champions Vietnam.
“Let’s just enjoy the moment tonight,” said Stajcic. “It’s a special moment and a historic moment. First of all to beat Vietnam but second of all to make the first final ever in history is a massive occasion.
“We’ve reached two semifinals this year — the Asian Cup which was truly amazing, and the SEA Games where we won a bronze medal. Tonight, we’ve shown we matured and evolved and beaten, for me and I’m not saying it lightly, a really top class team.”
Before this evening, the Filipinas faced Vietnam 15 times throughout the years and failed to record a win or draw.
They conceded a total of 73 goals in those matches and they were underdogs coming in considering that the Vietnamese won the 30th and 31st SEA Games crowns as well as the 2019 AFF Women’s Championship.
However, one thing this team has shown this year is that it is capable of breaking that proverbial glass ceiling time and time again. With two semifinal finishes beforehand, they finally reached a first major final in history.
“So you know it shows that we’ve come a long way but you know I’m greedy and I’m hungry for more and I know that this is just a stepping stone again,” said the former Matildas mentor.
“I’ve said that earlier in the week but it’s another stepping stone for this team to be growing in becoming better and better and that’s important as we evolve to become better every time that we play.”
After such a momentous victory, the Filipinas will be heading to the final against the Thailand War Elephants with cautious optimism. While the Thais emerged victorious when both squads squared off in the group stage, the Filipinas bagged a win against them in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
As proven by tonight, the ball is always round and Stajcic’s wards will be gunning for immortality come Sunday night.
“We’ve shown tonight that we’ve reached a new milestone and now we’re looking forward to the final and really see if we could take a little bit of revenge out of Thailand after they beat us the other night,” he concluded.
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Catch the entire 2022 AFF Women’s Championship live on SMART Sports and Puso Pilipinas from July 4-18.
