FIL-AMERICAN pro Emma Rose Tovar was one of 11 newcomers, who caught the attention of coach Mark Torcaso during the weeklong tryouts of the Philippine national women’s football team.
The 21-year-old Tovar, now playing for Valencia FC in Portugal, impressed with her strong attacking game as a midfielder during an exhibition game of the Filipinas on Tuesday night at the newly-opened rooftop pitch of the Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
“For us, this is about creating a nice pool of players and having good, strong players, so we can build a competitive team in the future,” said Torcaso.
Tovar, who was born and raised in San Jose, California, was among 11 newbies chosen to be part of the 34-man pool.
The other new faces in the pool includes, goalies Mayson Veronda and Nina Meollo, Malia Cerdon, Janae Defazio, Kaela Hansen, Nya Harrison, Arianna Markey, Jaime Turrentine, Skye Leach, Ivy Mae Perez, Alexa Pino, Camille Sahirul, Alessandra Carpio and Autumn Cayelli, along with locals Emma Balacua and Diane Tolentin.
World Cup veteran like goalie Olivia McDaniel are back with Inna Palacios, Sarina Bolden, Angela Beard, Jessica Cowart, Sofia Harrison-Wunsch, Sara Eggesvik and Hali Long.
“Honestly, this is so surreal. When I was given this opportunity, I jumped at it right away. It’s always been a dream of mine to play for the Philippines,” said Tovar.
During the exhibition game, which was lit up by drone light and firework displays, Team Blu played Team White to a 1-all draw.
It was Carpio, who booted in the first goal for Team Blue in the first half, while Serrano struck in the second half for Team White.
Bolden, who is dealing with an injury, did not play.