Big boost for Malditas

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Malditas’ FIFA Women’s World Cup aspirations got a big boost with football’s world governing body allocating more slots for Asia for the expanded global tourney in 2023.

The Bureau of the FIFA Council said Asian squads will now have six direct slots for the 32-team World Meet to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The Australians will automatically get one slot while the Malditas and the rest of Asia dispute the remaining five.