The Philippine national women’s football team showed that it has gotten better as it pulled off a 3-0 beating of Jordan on Saturday evening (Manila time) in the Pink Ladies Week tournament in Antalya, Türkiye.
Goals from Sarina Bolden and Katrina Guillou made this happen and coach Mark Torcaso said better things are in store for the world no. 39th-ranked Filipinas.
It was the Philippines’ first win over Jordan since its 2-1 triumph in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup group stage, where Bolden scored the winning goal in the 76th minute.
The Philippines will next face Kenya on Wednesday at 9 p.m. (Manila time).
“We have built on this for six to 12 months, to make sure that we’re really good at it. So, it’s really a good time and interesting,” said Torcaso, in toppling the world no. 74 ranked Jordan.
Bolden, a Filipino-American forward now on her sixth year with the Filipinas, started the
Filipinos’ bid with with a header with just two minutes in the game on an assist by Janae DeFazio.
The debuting DeFazio is a Fil-American coming off a stint with the with the Kansas City Currents.
A second goal came from Bolden, this time off a penalty in the 68th minute.
Guillou provided the third goal and sealed the win through another penalty in the 77th minute after Quinley Quezada got fouled.
“We’re getting better and better. We always have a winning mentality,” said Torcaso.
The Filipinas are playing their first international match since facing South Korea in Icheon last April.
“It’s going to take some time to build our playing style, but the most important thing is we got a win,” said Torcaso.
Jordan had a chance to equalize in the second half when a handball by Sara Eggesvik led to a penalty.
But goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel made a crucial save on Ayah Al-Majali’s shot to maintain the clean sheet.