CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Philippine Women’s National Football Team (PWNFT) Filipinas will embark in a pair of international friendlies as part of their rigid preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year in Australia and New Zealand.
The Filipinas will be facing Costa Rica in back-to-back friendly matches with the latter’s women’s national team on October 7, 2022 (October 8, Manila Time) and October 11 (October 12, Manila Time).
They will play at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium in Costa Rica’s capital of San Jose.
Besides the two friendly matches against Costa Rica, the Filipinas will also set up a training camp in the Central American country.
“The friendly matches against Costa Rica in October give us a chance to experience different styles of play after playing against New Zealand early this month,” said the Filipinas head coach Alen Stajcic in a post from the PFF website.
“What’s important for us is to learn and build on these experiences which will be a huge factor in our World Cup campaign next year.”
The team’s goal, according to Stajcic, is to further improve their performance while waiting for the official draw of the FIFA Women’s World Cup next month.
“We improved a lot but there’s no doubt that expectations and goals are higher and we know how hard it is to keep climbing so we’re working hard trying to reset our goals to keep striving for more success,” said Stajcic.
Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President Mariano “Nonong” Araneta was elated to learn about the latest development of the Filipinas.
Araneta in a post from the PFF website said that these types of matches are what the Filipinas need to build up for the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year.
“We are pleased that the Filipinas are getting these type of matches as they continue their preparations for the World Cup,” said Araneta in a post from the PFF website.
The Costa Rican women’s national football team are currently ranked No. 37 in the latest FIFA women’s global rankings whereas the Filipinas are ranked No. 53.
Costa Rica qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup after placing fourth in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Women’s Championships held in Mexico last July.
Meanwhile, the Filipinas qualified for the World Cup after reaching the semifinals of the AFC Asian Cup last January in India.
/bmjo
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