OPINION

Filipinas campaign in FIFA Women's World Cup ends with gratitude from fans

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Even in painful defeat, there is much occasion for celebration.

The Philippines has bowed out of its maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup after a humbling 6-0 at the hands of Norway, but not before capturing the hearts and minds of Filipinos.

Coming off of a sensational 1-0 victory against co-hosts New Zealand, the debuting Filipinas knew that a victory against the top-seeded Norway will propel them to the knockout stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

With the Norway team struggling on the field and seemingly embroiled in internal turmoil, the timing seemed right for the Philippines to cause yet another major upset in women’s football.

However, Norway quickly gave the Filipinas a harsh reality check and a real sense of the gap in quality between the two teams with three first half goals, en route to a six-goal thrashing of the Philippines.

Boasting of world class players such as Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten, Norway gave the Filipinas a front view seat as to the quality needed to play at the major leagues in Europe.

Unfortunately for the Filipinas, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in the game. An early goal conceded, an own goal, a red card, and a penalty against the Filipinas were some of the challenges the team faced in 90 minutes on the field.

However, off the field, it was a very different story.

With its very cold winter weather and mince and cheese steak pies, Auckland may be a long way from Manila but the historic Eden Park became a home ground for the Philippines as Filipinos from the world over comprised the majority of the 32,000 fans in attendance.

Chants of “PI-LI-PI-NAS” could be heard reverberating across the stadium as the team took the field, and when 'Lupang Hinirang' was sung, one can be forgiven for feeling like it was back home in Rizal Memorial Football Stadium — only with winter jackets.

Despite Norway’s margin of victory ballooning, the Filipino fans did not let up and most waited even after the final whistle to show their appreciation to the team.

Back home in the Philippines, viewing parties in the malls all over the country have sparked a renewed interest in the sport, something defender Jessika Cowart is appreciative of.

“Seeing the amount of people who showed up for us back home, it’s amazing and it’s just the beginning for football in the Philippines,” said Cowart.

“I think this tournament showed that football is alive in the Philippines and it’s not something to be looked over and that people love it.”

For some, losing two games and getting a ‘lucky’ win while going out of the group stage might not be their definition of triumph. Personally, the Filipinas campaign is a definite success and is a cause for celebration, with the magnitude of the achievement perhaps not evident yet at the present moment.

Once we step back and really think about it, many countries have not even had the chance to qualify for the World Cup, and if they did, had to go through numerous World Cup campaigns in search of their first goal and victory.

For the Filipinas to accomplish both at the first-time is something truly magical and really special, and as Alen Stajcic rightfully puts it, “nothing short of miraculous.”

The important thing, however, is to be able to build on the gains of the surge of publicity and awareness that this campaign has generated and translate that into a sustainable pipeline for the next generation of Filipinas.

The end goal, of course, is not just to be happy to make the World Cup this one time. The target will be to make this a regular thing, to make sure we belong always in world football’s biggest stage by participating and qualifying regularly.

As captain Hali Long succinctly put it, “We want this to be sustainable. We would like to see Philippine flag in the World Cup more often.”

“We want to show the world na hindi chamba ang ginawa natin.”

(We want to show that it was not a fluke.)

With the core of the team still young, there is a genuine hope that this success can continue, especially with the experience gained in the last 18 months.

But for now, a big thank you to the Filipinas, the coaching staff and management, for making grown men and women cry tears of joy as their own little dreams come true.

Thank you for making us feel that we Filipinos too, belong to world football’s elite.

For however far and wide all of us go from here, we will always have Wellington, where for an altogether brief moment, the nation united behind twenty-three women who represented the country, and dared to dream.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News