MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine women's national football team is currently in Australia in preparation for the 31st Southeast Asian Games.
The first of three major tournaments before their historic appearance at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, the Filipina booters will be spending more than a month Down Under with Aussie coach Alen Stajcic.
According to the Philippine Football Federation, the team arrived in Australia on Wednesday and will be playing international friendlies against Fiji in early April.
They will be setting up training camp in Sydney, where Stajcic is based, until early May before heading to Vietnam for the biennial games.
"It is crucial that the team gets as much time as possible to prepare," said team manager Jefferson Cheng.
"We hope that the work put in on this camp will bring great results in the upcoming tournaments," he added.
A 25-strong contingent — bannered by veterans Inna Palacios, Cam Rodriguez, Tara Shelton, Hali Long and Quinley Quezada — will be in Australia for the camp.
Not on the list is Sarina Bolden, who is currently playing professionally in Japan.
Also missing the camp is Chandler McDaniel who suffered an injury during the 2022 Women's Asian Cup in India last January.
Her sister, Olivia, will be with the team.
'Malditas' no more
Also part of the announcement of the PFF on Thursday is that the team is dropping its erstwhile moniker "Malditas" and instead will be going with "Filipinas".
According to Cheng, it was not "appropriate" to continue using "Malditas" due to its negative connotations in large parts of the world.
"[Filipinas] is simple and nationalistic. Our athletes our Filipinas. They are strong-willed, determined, passionate, and driven by the goal to represent not just themselves, but the country," he said.
"We trust that Filipino football fans will understand and support this decision," he added.