Filipinas take entire basketball-crazed country to a football journey to remember

FIFA Ladies’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 – Group A – Norway v Philippines – Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand – July 30, 2023 Philippines followers contained in the stadium earlier than the match REUTERS/David Rowland

The longest-tenured member of the Philippine ladies’s soccer group had greater than a bucket of tears whereas reflecting on the once-impossible dream of being within the Fifa Ladies’s World Cup and seeing it come to a crushing finish on Sunday at Auckland’s Eden Park in New Zealand.

“It was an unimaginable journey,” cocaptain and defender Hali Lengthy stated after the Filipinas went down in defeat, a stinging 6-0 scoreline by the hands of Norway earlier than a predominant crowd of Filipinos from virtually each nook of the globe that felt nothing however satisfaction over what was an exhilarating journey in ladies’s soccer’s final stage.

“There’s so many firsts that occurred right here—our first objective, our first win, our first sport, our first card, our first something,” stated Lengthy. “It was all a primary for us and you may’t take it away from us. I imply it takes some groups three, 4, 5 World Cups simply to win a sport, not to mention rating a objective.

“I couldn’t be any extra happy with the hassle that we gave on this entire marketing campaign and made our group fairly attention-grabbing. However yeah, I couldn’t be extra happy with the hassle we gave,” she added.

Philippines’ Hali Lengthy reacts on the finish of the Ladies’s World Cup Group A soccer match between Norway and Philippines in Auckland, New Zealand, Sunday, July 30, 2023. Norway defeated Philippines 6-0. (AP Photograph/Rafaela Pontes)

Lengthy had seen many days of sorrow and, not too long ago, many days of pleasure since donning the nationwide shirt for the primary time since 2016 because the Philippines climbed from simply making an attempt to change into related in Southeast Asia to turning into a group that confirmed it could possibly compete towards a number of the greatest ladies’s soccer nations on this planet.

And that’s why every thing skilled throughout these previous few days was particular for the Filipinas and Lengthy, who even earlier than what turned out to be their closing sport right here had cried whereas singing the nationwide anthem.

“Anytime ‘Lupang Hinirang’ comes on, it simply means a lot as a result of it’s such as you die on your countrymen,” stated Lengthy because the tears flowed once more earlier than reporters from Manila and a handful of international journalists at a cold blended zone space.

“I imply, it’s every thing. It’s the satisfaction and honor you will have, to signify your nation in every single place on the worldwide stage—as an underdog, as a magnificence queen, as a boxer, as a weightlifter, as a futbolera. It’s an utmost honor to, one, convey the ‘Lupang Hinirang’ right here, convey the Philippine flag right here for the primary time and to have the ability to be on the pitch to do this.

“It’s simply the particular spotlight of my life,” concluded the 28-year-old Lengthy.

The Filipinas, led by coach Alen Stajcic who was key within the Filipinas’ unimaginable rise since taking the helm in late-2021, got here to the World Cup not content material on simply being right here, however to point out the world, particularly again house, that they are often at par with any group.

However the closing match was additionally a sign that the Filipinas should do extra work with the intention to not simply return to this degree in 4 years’ time.

Promise to return

Philippines’ Hali Lengthy, left, and Dominique Randle react on the finish of the Ladies’s World Cup Group A soccer match between Norway and Philippines at Eden Park stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, Sunday, July 30, 2023. Norway defeated Philippines 6-0. (AP Photograph/Abbie Parr)

Norway progressed to the knockout stage whereas leaving the Filipinas to start the method of hoping to be again for the subsequent one in 2025.

Sarina Bolden, who turned the star of the Filipinas’ marketing campaign together with her historic objective within the win over New Zealand virtually every week prior in Wellington, virtually made no hesitation in manifesting that this 12 months’s version isn’t just a one-off factor.

“I imply, I’m prepared for the subsequent World Cup,” stated Bolden. “I’m hoping that we’ll be capable of qualify and we simply have to proceed what we’ve been doing and don’t change up issues an excessive amount of and proceed to study and develop and belief the method.

“4 years is a very long time from now, however the course of begins now and the way can we get higher, how can we develop from this, study from this? And I’ve little doubt in my thoughts that we’ll be capable of be a greater group for it,” she added.

Amid that course of is the hope that the gorgeous sport can a minimum of take steps in ensuring that it turns into part of the Philippine sporting panorama, not simply within the current after a a number of variety of viewing events in malls throughout the nation added additional buzz on the historic run.

“I simply need all of the little girls and boys within the Philippines to know that it is a dream that may be attainable. I imply, they will do that,” stated goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel. “We need to be certain that we develop this sport sufficient for them, that it’s obtainable to them, and so they can be capable of be in our sneakers at some point. And that’s actually our objective for the group of us, collectively.”

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