New Aussie coach Alen Stajcic confident about Filipina booters' World Cup chances

Incoming Philippine women's football team head coach Alen Stajcic beamed with confidence over his team's chances of clinching a berth for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The decorated Australian mentor, who was recently tapped by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to take on the coaching mantle, said he has seen the squad develop over the years and booking a World Cup ticket is just within the striking distance.

But first up for Stajcic is leading the Filipina booters in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup set to be hosted by India next year. The tournament will serve as qualification for the World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

In the draw ceremony held Thursday, the Philippines was pooled in Group B along with the FIFA world no. 11 Australia and Southeast Asian rivals Thailand and Indonesia.

"It's a challenge but it's going to be a massive challenge for every team. We're very confident, we've got a good team," said Stajcic after the announcement of the draw.

"In the last Asian Cup, they showed that they can compete with all the countries in the world. So if we can keep on improving in the next two or three months, I'm very confident that we can still win one of the berths in the World Cup."

Stajcic, who steered the Australian national women's team to the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, stressed that the 2022 Asian Cup will be interesting as he will be pitted against his former team.

"I knew that Australia would somehow fall into my group but it's an interesting tournament. It's going to present different challenges for different teams," the 47-year-old mentor  said.

"The good part for us is we now know who we play and we can really focus on targeting that first match and making sure we're ready to go when we get to India."

—JMB, GMA News