The Philippine Women’s National Football Team’s campaign in the 2023 Pinatar Cup went off to a rough start as they succumbed 1-0 to Wales, early Thursday morning Manila time, at the Pinatar Arena in Spain.
The Filipinas conceded the game’s only goal in the 45+1 minute. Beforehand, Filipinas defender Dominique Randle fouled Wales’ Rhiannon Roberts inside the box, which then allowed Kayleigh Green to score past goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel.
“It’s the fourth or fifth penalty we’ve given away a penalty and we’ve got to learn on those kinds of things but apart from that I thought we did really well. Dom (Randle) herself had a strong game defensively,” said head coach Alen Stajcic.
Come the second half, the Filipinas sought a leveler, and substitute forward Katrina Guillou had a sniff at goal, only for her attempt to be saved by Wales goalie Safia Middleton-Patel.
Wales, though, kept pressing on for the safety goal that would seal the win. McDaniel was forced to make a nice save against Ceri Holland while Rachel Rowe saw her shot blocked by defender Hali Long.
Ultimately, the Welsh took home all three points while the Filipinas were left to lament the close loss.
“There are usually issues of not being able to keep the ball better which is something we have to work on,” added Stajcic.
“Considering that we’re in pre-season and the opposition right in the middle of their season, the jetlag, we’ve had delayed flights, we’ve had players ill and we’ve had players coming in really late to camp — that was an amazing effort, probably one of our best in terms of effort,” he continued. “We went up against players in the Super League and some of the big clubs as well so it was a really good effort and the team showed a lot of discipline defensively.”
The Filipinas hope to bounce back when they take on Scotland this Saturday at 10:00 PM Manila time.
Wales XI: Middleton-Patel (GK), Woodham, Evans, Ladd, Roberts, Ingle (C), James, Rowe, Jones, Holland, Green.
Philippines XI: McDaniel (GK), Randle, Long, Annis (C), Flanigan, Eggesvik, Frilles, Harrison, Barker, Cowart, Quezada.
