Filipinas release photos of friendlies against US, Sweden

As the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup wrapped on Sunday with Spain winning the title for the first time, the Philippine women's national football team on Monday released photos of their closed-door friendly matches against the United States and Sweden.

The Filipinas also released some details regarding their tuneups.

"On 14 July 2023, the Philippine Women's National Team and U.S. Soccer had a 70-minute training match in Auckland, which ended 3-0 in favor of the USWNT," the team said in its post.

This also confirmed the earlier reported scrimmage of the team against the previous world champions, which goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher as "challenging."

The team also released snapshots of their friendly against Sweden, which the Swedish side won, 5-1.

"On 17 July 2023, the Philippine Women's National Team and the Sweden Football Women's National Team had a 90-minute training match at their base camp in Upper Hutt, which Sweden won 5-1. Angela Beard scored the goal for the Philippines," the Filipinas said.

The team also thanked the two teams who helped them prepare for their debut in the World Cup.

"We thank US Soccer and Swedish Football Association for the opportunity to play against the top teams in the world, and thank all athletes at the FIFA Women’s World Cup for inspiring and challenging footballers everywhere to be better," the PWNT said.

The Filipinas finished their historic run in the World Cup with a win against New Zealand, and losses against Switzerland and Norway.

The United States, meanwhile, failed to reach the quarterfinals as it fell to eventual third placer Sweden. 

United States coach Vlatko Andonovski also recently resigned following the team's early exit.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News