WELLINGTON — In her biggest moment yet as a member of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team, Sarina Bolden has credited Alen Stajcic for preparing her and her teammates for their 1-0 upset over the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosts, New Zealand, at the Wellington Regional Stadium here.
Bolden cemented her and the Filipinas’ place in Philippine sports history when she headed the ball home in the 24th minute, as the visitors managed to stave off the Football Ferns in front of 32,357 fans in the stadium.
“Alen, he’s a brilliant man.
“He has given us a lot of knowledge. He has taught us a lot of things that are just so valuable that I’ll take them for the rest of my life as a footballer. I think it’s because of him, but a big majority also goes to the players for sacrificing so much, giving themselves to this, and trusting each other,” said the 27-year-old striker who now has 22 goals in 37 international appearances.
“No one expected us to win, but we’re very used to being the underdog, and New Zealand is kind of the same too. They’re an underdog. We had two underdogs tonight, but I think it took a lot of hard work and grit and just not giving up. It wasn’t beautiful soccer, but we didn’t stop until the very end,” the globetrotting footballer continued.
It was a tense affair for the Filipinas throughout the match. The Football Ferns sought to impose themselves early, and Hannah Wilkinson, who scored against Norway a few days ago, had a sniff at goal that went over the bar.
However, everything changed when Bolden scored. This time, there was no VAR call that turned things upside down for the Philippines. It was a spontaneous moment that was celebrated by Filipino fans in the stadium as well as those watching in the Philippines and elsewhere.
Come the second half, Stajcic’s side worked doubly hard to protect their one-goal cushion. Now it was the Filipinas’ turn to benefit from a VAR call as New Zealand’s Jacqui Hand had a goal ruled out due to offside by the slimmest of margins.
“It was just happening so fast, and in my head, I just thought, ‘head it down, head it down.’ Even then, I got worried about VAR. Is my armpit offside? Was something offside? Luckily, everything was okay, and I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates. The soccer gods were in our favor tonight,” said the current Western Sydney Wanderers standout.
“At times it was give and take, and there were times I thought they wanted it more. After that offside goal, I think we were like, ‘we really need to step up now.’ That was our one chance, and we cannot let that happen again. I think we definitely did our best defensively, and Liv’s (McDaniel) stop was amazing. A big shoutout to her for getting that done.”
While Bolden and the rest of the Filipinas camp will rightfully celebrate tonight, they already have one eye on their next game — a crunch clash against 12th-in-the-world Norway, which has yet to win in this tournament as of this writing.
The Filipinas have overcome so many challenges throughout the past 18 months, and another big one beckons in front of them that will make or break their hopes of advancing out of Group A and into the knockout round.
“The growth has been immense. I attribute this to Alen, immense knowledge of the game, his experience. He’s been in a World Cup with the Australian women’s national team, and for him to kind of teach us a lot of things has gotten us to this point. The growth only goes up from here,” said Bolden.
“We’re definitely looking on to play Norway and do our best, and I think anything can happen, and we’re looking to get a win in the next one and create more history and make it to the knockout round.”
