The Philippine Women’s U-16 National Football Team completed the first round of qualifying to the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2019 in second place of their group after two wins and one loss. Only eight out of twenty-nine teams, split into six groups, advance to the second round. By a stroke of luck, the Philippines is one of those eight.
The Philippines registered wins in their first two matches – a confident 4-0 victory against hosts Nepal, and a 1-0 nailbiter against neighbors Malaysia – before succumbing to Myanmar 1-5. Six points put the Philippines in second place of Group E, which meant that Myanmar – as the top team of the group with nine points – automatically qualified for the next round.
As the second-best team, the Philippines still had the chance to qualify – depending on the other teams in the other groups and the turnout of their closing matches. Iran, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and India were some of the teams that the Philippines had to contend with as one of the two best second-placed teams that would also be awarded tickets to the next round.
With most of those teams having the same six points as the Philippines, the decision went down to goal differences (GD), where the Pinays only had plus-1. Luckily, Vietnam, Iran and Chinese Taipei lost their respective matches, while India – which had better GD – suffered a draw against Laos at the last minute.
In the end, the Philippines finished third among the second-placed teams, but because Thailand – which will be hosting the final tournament in 2019 – had topped Group C, it was determined that three of the best second-placed teams would advance instead.
Thus the Philippines ,along with Australia, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, were granted passage to the next round, which will take place next year from February to March.
U-16 head coach Joyce Landagan was ecstatic once the AFC confirmed the news. “We are very happy not only because we qualified but of how hard we worked to qualify. There were a lot of doubts that this team could make it, especially as Myanmar and Malaysia were the favorites to go through from this group, but we showed that we can,” she said.
Landagan also added that the team’s mindset played a crucial role in all the matches they played.
“We always pushed them to leave everything on the pitch every time. So even when we lost to Myanmar, we were still proud of them. Everyone did their job and we could not ask for anything more from the girls. Whether we qualified or not, I am proud of what the girls sacrificed and did for the whole campaign,” she shared.
