Filipina5 vow to give all vs Argentina after early exit in FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup

The Philippine women’s national futsal team might be seeing a dead-end to its campaign in the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup, but vowed to keep its resiliency when it tackles world No. 6 Argentina on Thursday night.

The Filipina5, who were eliminated from contention after absorbing a disappointing 3-2 defeat against Morocco on Monday, are looking to give the Argentinians a good fight and make it a memorable stint one final time.

Argentina (2-0-0) has already secured the first of two quarterfinal berths in the pool play following a similar 3-2 escape against Poland backed by a +7 goal difference (GD), while the Philippines was left with a 0-0-2 record and a glaring -7 GD.

Despite the loss, Inday Tolentin made history in front of the home crowd as she scored the country’s first-ever goal in the Futsal Worlds, followed by another one from Cathrine Graversen.

However, the nationals conceded the next three goals to the Moroccans, who will now take on the Polish side to dispute the last ticket for the next round.

“Scoring that fast in the beginning, the two goals were not in our game plan. We didn’t know that was going to happen early. I feel like we were kind of not ready for it in an emotional way. So, it affected the players and made them a little bit emotional. Although in a positive way, it affected the game,” said Merino in Spanish.

“We’ve been giving it our all until the end. In the last five minutes against Morocco, there were two very clear chances. But we played in the second half much better than we ended the opening. The first half didn’t end in the best way,” he added.

Though the clear underdogs against Argentina, the 63rd-FIFA ranked Philippines will continue to put its best foot forward in their non-bearing matchup.

For the Filipina5, every game matters for the development of the still newly launched program.

“We have to try to give the best of ourselves. We have to turn to our identity and who we are. There’s nothing extraordinary that we can do. We’re gonna be ourselves and play the best we can,” Merino said.

Filipinas midfielder Jaclyn Sawicki, who has played at three World Cups throughout her career, one with the Canadian under-20 team, followed with two more stints for the Philippines, wants to make it just as worthwhile as her first two times.

“We’re at a World Cup, and we’re hosting. So we got the audience counting on our side, which has been the most electric atmosphere. I also think we can’t take these moments for granted. Who knows when we’re going to be at a World Cup again. The girls are going to keep their heads up and be resilient as we always are. Play para sa bayan,” Sawicki said.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News