The Filipinas proceed their buildup for the Fifa Ladies’s World Cup. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Hali Lengthy sees no purpose for the Philippine girls’s soccer workforce to take a step again now that it’s in New Zealand for closing preparations earlier than the Fifa (Worldwide Affiliation Soccer Federation) Ladies’s World Cup marketing campaign kicks off subsequent week.
“We labored actually laborious to get to this second and I imply the laborious work will not be gonna cease. We’ve plenty of work to do, nonetheless,” Lengthy mentioned after the Filipinas held their first coaching session on Wednesday in Auckland, the place the workforce arrange its base camp.
Slick circumstances welcomed the workforce at Olympic Park after spending the primary two days acclimatizing to the sunny-yet-cold climate, which is anticipated to be the identical by the point the workforce’s World Cup stint will get underway in opposition to Switzerland on July 21 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
However earlier than that, the Filipinas will give themselves an opportunity to have a really feel of what they’ll face with a coaching match in opposition to Sweden, thought-about as one of many prime groups in Fifa’s centerpiece event.
Sweden will function gamers who’re hooked up to a number of the prime girls’s golf equipment in Europe, specifically Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolfsburg.
Lengthy believes that the match, which seemingly received’t be two 45-minute halves, will give the Filipinas the chance to know if they’ve made sufficient progress throughout the lengthy lead-up.
Final three days
“We’re all excited for [our upcoming friendly] simply to see the place we’re at,” Lengthy continued in a video posted by the workforce’s official Fb web page.
The Filipinas face Sweden on Monday in Wellington earlier than spending the final three days finalizing its preparations for the opener.
“It’s about to be sport time,” mentioned Lengthy. “So we actually have to recollect all of the little particulars we’ve been taught alongside this 18-month journey we’ve had collectively.
“So it’s all concerning the little particulars now. We’ve executed all of our fine-tuning, however it’s lastly time to show and present what we’re made [of],” added the Filipinas cocaptain.
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