By Peter Atencio
THE search for younger players, who can someday play for the Philippine national women’s team, is on.
National coach Allen Stajcic and his assistant Nahuel Arrarte are set to conduct their hunt for young footballers in different parts of the country this week.
Players, who will be chosen will fill in spots in the soon to be formed national under- 17 and under-20 squads.
Stajcic won’t be calling the shots once the two national youth squads have been formed.
That’s because he will have his hands full in the responsibility of preparing the Filipinas for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, the Olympic Qualifiers and the FIFA World Cup for Women.
Instead, Arrarte, who is from Spain, will assume the head-coaching job of the national under-20 squad, while another coach, who will be named soon, will take charge of the under-17.
“To say that these kids aged 13, 14 and 15 can be game changers, is a possibility. Definitely, there’s some exciting talent out there that we can see,” said Stajcic during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Acacia Hotel in Alabang, Muntinlupa.
Stajcic just came from Carson City, California, where they recently held tryouts involving Fil-heritage booters from Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and other parts of the US.
Around 110 aspirants showed up to take part in the tryouts, and Stajcic felt that the turnout looks promising.
Tryouts in search for local talent will commence on Thursday at the Philippine Football Federation training center in Carmona, Cavite.
On Friday, trials are scheduled at the Dynamic Herb8 Sports Complex in Cebu City.
Next up, more tryouts will be done at the Tiongco field on Saturday in Davao City.
