Coach: Filipinas played 'as best as they could' in humbling Asiad loss vs Japan

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine women’s national football team Mark Torcaso had much to say about the team’s efforts after the Filipinas’ lopsided 1-8 loss to Japan to end their campaign in the 19th Asian Games last weekend.

After holding their own in the first 70 minutes of the game, the Nadeshiko were able to break down the Filipinas’ will late — scoring a whopping five goals in the last 20 minutes to give the Philippines a tough exit in the quarterfinals.

Rather than focus on the miscues that led to the dominant scoreline on the side of Japan, Torcaso said that it was simply just a matter of keeping themselves consistent for the whole 90 minutes.

“I guess if we look at the game with South Korea initially, we set ourselves a target to defend really well and I think we defended really well for about 45 minutes and it sort of opened up a little bit after that. And then we set ourselves a target against Japan to defend for better and longer,” Torcaso told the media on Zoom last Sunday. 

“And we defended for longer [by] a lot – we got to 67th minute. Now it’s about building on and making sure that we can do that for even longer than 70 minutes.”

In the game against Japan, the Filipinas were looking like a tough cookie to crack when they ended the first half only down 1-nil, with their foes’ only goal coming from the penalty spot.

They then proved to be even more of a pest when they pulled one back at the 68th minute, courtesy of a header from Sarina Bolden to get within two goals of Nadeshiko, 1-3.

But as they were playing with only 10 women, after skipper Hali Long was earlier sent off due to a red card, it proved difficult to keep the pace they were playing at.

It also didn’t help that the Filipinas were missing some key players, who already had to go back to their clubs – like Katrina Guillou, Quinley Quezada and Jessika Cowart, among others.

Knowing how the odds were stacked against his side, Torcaso couldn’t help but praise his wards for pulling out the way they did, and continued on to say that the score line was not representative of how the girls played.

“There’s no doubt that we still got seven to 10 players that were actually unavailable for the [Asian Games] that will come in [later] and strengthen this side. But with the way we approached the Japan game, for us coaches, I don’t think the scoreline really showed what we were about,” said Torcaso. 

“And you really saw these players play with their hearts out for their nation. And they were really boarding the way we want to play at the minute when we had to prepare for that Japanese game. So, there’s lots of positive signs from that game. The result didn’t look what the game should have. But once we string more than 70 minutes with our plan, I think it will hold up against some of the really good nations.”

Still, the Filipinas will need to regain their bearings soon and learn how to compete for the whole game, just as Torcaso wants — especially since the 2nd round of the Olympic Qualifiers is fast approaching.

There, the Filipinas are grouped with Australia’s Matildas, Chinese Taipei and Iran.

With the Matildas coming off of a fourth place finish in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Filipinas will need to work hard to come out on top of the group, or at the very least, finish as the best runner-up team among the groups to move on to the third round.

Now that the Asian Games are in the rear-view mirror, Torcaso will hope to assemble his team soon anew and prepare for the next challenge.

“We’ll spend a little bit of time over the next two weeks preparing for that ‘cause it’s a very short turnaround. The players will return home, we’re really looking forward to the opportunity of going to Australia and playing in this Olympic Qualifiers and giving ourselves a chance to get to the Olympics.” said Torcaso.

“We took a lot of findings in this competition; that’s what it is about.”