Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso made sure to touch base with the local football scene during the few days he visited the country.
The 42-year-old mentor observed training sessions of UAAP squads Far Eastern University, University of the Philippines, and club teams Kaya FC and Manila Digger.
He then watched FEU trounce UP 4-1 last Saturday. All this to see how he can strengthen the Filipinas for their future matches on the international stage.
In particular, players from Kaya and Manila Digger left an impression on him considering that club football in the country in the women’s game is still under development.
“I saw Kaya training two nights ago and I saw Manila Digger, the night before that. And again there are a few players that are in both of those environments that are national team players. So, it was good to see what they do in training,” said the 2022–2023 A-League Women finalist.
“It was also good to see them in training with the coaches they have here, which is excellent. It was good to see that everything was in line with what I thought it would be. And the quality of training was really good. It’s now hoping to get a really good quality competition to make the players get better and better here.”
As the current Filipinas coach, Torcaso and his staff are doing all they can to build a squad that could represent the country well in the long term.
After last year’s groundbreaking year that saw the Filipinas compete in the Southeast Asian Games, FIFA Women’s World Cup, 19th Asian Games and 2024 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament — the onus is on to keep this momentum going and go even further.
“I think the one thing important is that we’re constantly evolving and getting better as a team. After the World Cup, I think it’s important to look at many more players, not just what we had at the World Cup, to develop our team over the next few years. So with that, obviously we’ve got an opportunity with our U17s going to the Asian Cup,” said the former Western United coach.
“We want to develop that team. So we had a few of those girls come into the camp as well. So yeah, it’s about the long term, it’s all about creating a lot of players that can be a part of our national team and that also goes for players that are playing in these environments as well. We always want to keep an eye on every single player that we possibly can.”
Under Torcaso’s senior national team assistant Sinisa Cohadzic, the country made it to the continental stage at the under-17 level for the first time ever by qualifying for the 2024 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup last September 2023.
That competition will also be used as the qualifying matches for the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which will take place this October. Only three Asian nations — the two finalists and the third-placer — will make the World Cup in the tournament that will span May 6–19.
This campaign is being used as part of the program to develop the next generation of Filipinas at the senior level.
“We aim to have a camp actually here next week with the U-17s prior to going to Indonesia. So it’ll be good to bring the girls home and let them really understand and feel what the culture is here. So we want to build that,” said Torcaso.
“But we’re really excited, obviously another World Cup hopefully in the last 12 to 14 months. We want to try to get another team to the World Cup. And obviously, that’s important for us and we want to give ourselves every chance to do that by giving every player the best opportunity to be at the World Cup.”
Compared to last year’s busy schedule, this year is more of a developmental year for the senior team. There are no upcoming tournaments on the horizon, and it is all about preparing for the coming year.
While there is nothing like the pressure of tournament football, having a season full of international camps and friendlies may pay dividends in the long term.
“With our senior team, again, it’s just about playing against good competition,” said Torcado. “That’s why we played Scotland, Slovenia, Finland, and now South Korea. We want to constantly challenge our girls to make them better and get them better. So when we play in the AFF next year and the SEA Games, we’re going to be much more ready.”
“So yeah at the moment we’ll continue to work within the windows and those opportunities to play the good teams will you know, hopefully, come about again. Obviously, being part of a World Cup, you’re going to get you’re going to get interest from a lot of the best teams around the world now,” he added.
“We showed obviously in South Korea that we’re a competitive side and we’re a tough side and that’s good for us that big teams would want to come and play us. Hopefully, in the next six months, we will play a couple of strong teams to constantly improve our team.”
