OPINION: With FIFA Women's World Cup spot secured, what’s next for the Filipinas?

As they say, it’s not how you start, it’s how you end that matters.

For the Philippine Women’s National Football Team, they did finish the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in impressive fashion.

The Filipinas started the tournament with two successive losses, both against eventual losing finalists Australia and semifinalists South Korea.

Playing some ultra-defensive football, virtually without possession and barely having a sniff of a goal-scoring opportunity, things didn’t look good for the team in the first two games of the tournament.

With this Asian Cup also crucially doubling as qualification for the all-important FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, things were definitely looking bleak.

However, the coaching staff knew that if the team could just manage to make it to the next round as one of the best third-placed teams, then the all-important chance at Brazil would be alive.

As it turns out, all that defensive strategy was part of a grand master plan.

He has been dubbed by some as ‘Tournament Torcaso,’ but by identifying the important matches and adjusting tactics, player rotations, and resting key players accordingly, coach Mark Torcaso has guided the team to the promised land, seemingly against all odds.

Carefully managing the goal difference in defeats against Australia and South Korea meant that even the lack of goals scored in the win against Iran would see the Philippines through to the knockout stages by the skin of their teeth.

Facing a monumental task against eventual champions Japan in the quarterfinals, Torcaso rotated heavily and reserved his best players for the winner-take-all match against Uzbekistan, which the Filipinas took with both hands.

From the outside looking in, there will be questions asked as to how a team that only won two games in the tournament—and finished third in a group of four teams—has qualified for the World Cup, while resting important players in the quarterfinals.

That question is not for the team to answer.

The main goal of the tournament was to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, and in that sense, it was mission accomplished. However, it wasn’t always this straightforward.

Qualification to its maiden World Cup in 2023 sent Filipinos into delirium, but after the departure of the principal architects of that qualification—namely team manager Jeff Cheng and coach Alen Stajcic—and the subsequent change in administration of the PFF, there were very serious doubts as to whether the Philippines could replicate the same feat.

Traditional women’s football powerhouse North Korea was back in the mix. Teams in the AFC like Chinese Taipei were on the rise, and inevitable injury concerns meant that the likes of World Cup goalscorer Sarina Bolden would be absent from the squad.

To fill the gaps, the Filipinas called up a healthy dose of youngsters from the U17 campaign that almost made the World Cup themselves—and these young players would ultimately play an extremely pivotal role in the Filipinas squad.

Alexa Pino, Ari Markey, and Jael Guy have all emerged from that U17 team and have blossomed before our eyes in the tournament, and together with 21-year-old Mallie Ramirez, they have brought a much-needed boost to a veteran-laden squad.

In particular, 18-year-old Guy has definitely caught the eye and is arguably the breakout player of the tournament for the Filipinas. Fans will remember her two assists in that qualification-clinching performance against Uzbekistan in the final play-in match.

She definitely has a tournament to remember, and whether executing an exquisite piece of footwork to elude a defender or completing stepovers to breeze past opposing fullbacks, every time she has stepped on the pitch, she has delivered, regardless of the opponent.

What a baller, and what a Guy!

The youthful energy and enthusiasm she brings to the squad of veterans can perhaps be best encapsulated by her 6-7 celly with Jackie Sawicki after her goal against Uzbekistan.

But if the youngsters provided the spark, massive credit also has to be given to the veterans who quietly carried the team and steadied the ship.

Captain Hali Long has done her legendary status no harm in marshalling a sometimes-overmatched defense.

Ditto Olivia McDaniel, Sofia Wunsch, Jessika Cowart, and Sara Eggesvik, who all played important roles for the team.

Angie Beard and Jackie Sawicki have greatly benefited from the reunion with their former A-League coach at Western United and have parlayed that bond with Mark Torcaso into winning performances on the pitch.

As fate would have it, both would improbably score a goal each to secure the team’s slot in Brazil.

So, a second successive World Cup for the Philippines beckons in 15 months’ time. What next?

First off, the PFF has to ensure that the team remains sharp and in form in the buildup to 2027. International windows have to be carefully planned, and training camps have to be strategically and meticulously prepared to maximize the Filipinas’ chances in the World Cup.

If the Philippines was happy in 2023 to have qualified for the first time ever for any World Cup, surely the expectations for 2027 have to be more than just being happy to be back.

Qualifying for the World Cup should not be seen as the ultimate goal. Rather, it should be seen as just a step in the long-term progression of women’s football in the Philippines.

The next step will be ensuring the team does well in a tournament that will feature the very best women’s players in the world.

To not give maximum effort to ensure optimum preparation would be a disgrace and an absolute insult to the achievement and sacrifice of everyone involved, especially those who have laid the foundations on which we are standing today.

We celebrate today, for tomorrow, the real work begins.

Olá e bom dia, Brasil. The Filipinas are joining the party.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News