AUCKLAND — Olivia McDaniel was thankful for being a key cog in the Philippine Women’s National Football Team’s campaign in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup at the Eden Park stadium here.
The 5-foot-8 goalkeeper still played a fine game despite losing 6-0 against Norway in front of 34,697 supporters inside the venue.
The result meant that the Filipinas finished last in Group A with three points after losing to Switzerland 2-0 during their debut on the world stage and beating the host nation New Zealand 1-0 four days later.
“Yeah, two losses and a win, you know It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for us, but I mean we just learned from it,” she said.
“We really came out and gave it everything we could. Everyone went until their very last ounce of effort, and I couldn’t be prouder and happier for my teammates,” she continued.
“They really pushed it through, and you know the scoreline wasn’t how we wanted tonight, we wanted to move forward, but you know I’m just really grateful for everybody, and you know this isn’t the end for us.”
Before the match, hopes were high that the Filipinas would be able to force another upset to make it to the round of 16.
However, Sophie Roman Haug’s opening goal just six minutes into the contest opened the floodgates for what became a long night for McDaniel and her teammates.
Roman Haug would then finish the game with a hat trick, while the likes of Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten also added to the Norwegians’ tally. Filipinas defender Alicia Barker also put the ball at the back of her own net.
The gulf in class between both nations was shown painfully well, and it served as a reminder of how far the Philippines has to go to become an international powerhouse.
“I mean, Norway, they’re such an incredible, incredible group of girls, so talented, every single one of them. And you know, they’ve had a long tenure of being such amazing athletes and such amazing players in football,” said McDaniel.
“We’re just trying to bridge that gap between us, but we’re not far off. You know, I’m very proud of this group. We’ve come a long way, and you know, there’s more for us, and we’re bridging that gap. It’s not far off. It just wasn’t our best night, but you know, we learned from it,” she continued.
“And you know, they’ve given us something that we can hold onto forever, and that’s learning from our mistakes and learning from everything. Everything they did was world-class tonight.”
After the match, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumna reiterated her commitment to representing Stallion Laguna in the PFF Women’s League.
She hopes that the Filipinas’ exploits will inspire more Filipino girls and boys to take up the sport of football and do well for the country in international competitions.
This World Cup run is not the end of the road for the Filipinas as they will do battle in different tournaments in the next few months.
“Yeah, I mean, I just think that we’ve got such great teams we’re playing against in the Asian Games and Olympic qualifiers. We’re playing against Australia in the Olympic qualifiers while our group also has Chinese Taipei, and you know they’re such great teams, and we can’t count anybody out,” she said.
“We’ve scrimmaged against some of the best teams in the world and played against these amazing teams. So I think it’ll only help us grow and get better in the future.”
