'Pride, puso' up as Filipinas' historic World Cup run continues in crucial match vs Norway

The journey of the Philippine women's national women's football team in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup continues as they look to write more history on Sunday's match against Norway.

World no. 46 Philippines will face world no. 12 Norway at 3 pm and a win will assure the debutant Filipinas a slot in the Round of 16, while a loss will completely eliminate them from the tournament.

A draw, on the other hand, will have different repercussions depending on the result of the other Group A match between Switzerland and New Zealand.

"We are looking forward to the game. It's a massive game, it's a massive occasion for us," said head coach Alen Stajcic on Saturday in the pre-match press conference.

For Stajcic, playing at New Zealand's national stadium Eden Park will be special.

"We're all really excited and looking forward to the game," he added.

"The emotions and vibe of the group have been really good. We're going into this game like we do every game. We're all excited to play tomorrow," echoed Jessika Cowart.

For the Filipinas, treating each game the same has been part of their preparations during matches, and it will be the same when they face Norway.

"We're going to go out there and fight like we have in the past few games, like we have in the past 18 months, with pride, puso, and we're going to play as hard as we can," said Cowart.

Stajcic, meanwhile, said there is only one mindset in all of their matches.

"We treat every game the same. I don’t care if we are playing Norway, I don’t care if we are playing America, Myanmar or Hong Kong. Every single game is the same preparation.  So it is not really relevant if we are playing life or death tomorrow, or if we need to win or need to draw,” Stajcic said.

“We go out to win every game.”

The Norwegian Nexus

As the Filipinas hope to continue writing football history when they play Norway, two of their players already have history as well with their upcoming foes.

Sara Eggesvik and Meryll Serrano both represented the Nordic country early in their young careers, but for Stajcic, what is more important is the heart and spirit of the team as a whole.

"We have two Filipino players who spent a lot of their time in Norway, playing for Norway. But as I said, I don't really care where they came from and we don't really care who they are playing against," said Stajcic.

"We talked about individuals, we talked about the heart and spirit of our team and our nation and our flag that we are playing for and the national anthem that our players sing for. I'm really proud of the whole group. Sara, Meryll, that's irrelevant really where they grew up."

Stajcic added that what he is more proud of is the fact that they still have a chance to advance to the next round.

"From a coaching perspective, I'm really proud of the whole group that we've got to this point in the tournament that we're still alive," the Filipinas coach said.

"We're going to the last match against a superpower in women's football historically, knowing that we have a chance of progressing to the next round."

Stajcic added that while Norway has been having some issues in their camp, he is aware that their opponent will still give their best in the match.

"I've been following football, women's football for thirty years and I know how strong the country is and their history and culture in Norwegian women's football. They've won World Cups and medals at the Olympics, so they have an amazing history and culture which brought them forward to the point where they are and I've got a lot of respect for them as a team and as a country and what they've given to the world games," said Stajcic.

"I don't really care about what's going on inside the camp. I'm sure tomorrow, when they come at you, they're going to fight for their country like they've always had for thirty years. Everything else is irrelevant when they come to the field."

"The fact that they're wounded, sometimes means they'll come out to play harder and prove everyone wrong."

Norway coach Hege Riise confirmed on Saturday that striker Ada Hegerberg will not play for the match against the Filipinas. This, amid the issues about Caroline Graham Hensen's outburst towards her coach, which she has also apologized for.

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA Integrated News