THREE newcomers, led by Fil-American booter Paige McSwiggan, have joined the practices of the Philippine national women’s football team in Dubai.
The 21-year-old McSwiggan, a scorer and midfielder, was with Madison Ayson and Aliana Weibel on Sunday when the Filipinas began preparing for a pair of friendly games on April 4 and 8.
McSwiggan has played for 38 games with the University of North Florida Ospreys over the last two years,
Along with Ayson and Weibel, they are filling up vacancies in the absence of three injured FIFA Women’s World Cup veterans Sarina Bolden, Jaclyn Sawicki and Quinley Quezada.
The 24-year-old Ayson is a defender for the Canberra United FC in the Australian League and hails from Roseville, California.
The 19-year-old Weibel is a freshman playing for Kent State University Golden Flashes in Ohio and was a four-time all-conference athlete in high school.
National coach Mark Torcaso said this on Tuesday evening, as the new members of the squad blended very well with the mainstays.
The Philippines is slated to see action in two tournaments after the Dubai expedition.
First will be the ASEAN MSIG Serenity Cup in Indonesia on a date yet to be determined.
Then, the Filipinas will compete in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers from June 23 to July 5.
Torcaso said there’s a lot of pressure for the team to make it back to the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year.
But they will have to qualify first via the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.