Hangzhou—The World Cup-seasoned Philippine women’s national football team shoots for a second straight victory on Monday night, this time against a stronger foe in Group E top seed South Korea in the 19th Asian Games here.
“There is no doubt South Korea are a top side,” said Filipinas’ coach Mark Torcaso ahead of the 7:30 p.m. match at the Wenzhou Sports Center, more than two hours away by bullet train from the main hub here.
While Torcaso, who took over fellow Australian Alen Stajcic following the team’s historic stint in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, passed his initial test with flying colors via an emphatic 3-1 win by the Filipinas over Hong Kong on Friday, the road becomes narrower, and the task more challenging for the no. 44-ranked Philippine squad from here on.
Standing in their way is South Korea, ranked no. 20 by the FIFA.
“They’re (South Koreans) very good in possession. But there are small gaps that we can expose and if we do it right, we’ll get our chance. But we also have to be very disciplined and be smart tactically,” he said.
But discipline is something the Filipinas have plenty of as shown in their remarkable debut in the World Cup, highlighted by a huge 1-0 win over the host team, and the runup to this Asian Games.
Three nights ago, the Filipinas kicked off their campaign with a convincing win, highlighted by goals from World Cup veterans Sarina Bolden, Quinley Quesada and Katrina Guillou.
The South Korens will rely on their own World Cup squad in their bid to get to the podium here following a bronze-medal finish in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games behind powerhouse Japan and China.
The Koreans will head to the match against the Filipinas riding the momentum of a 4-0 win over Myanmar and, looking back, a 1-1 draw with Germany in the World Cup that was won by Spain.
The Filipinas, who are bidding to improve their Asiad-best fifth place ranking in the 1985 games in Seoul, will have to find a way to control the South Koreans, who scored a 2-0 victory the last time the two teams met in the AFC Asian Cup last year.
They have joined the Asian Games 19 times, finished fifth place once 38 years ago, and sixth place twice, in 1990 and 2002.