Filipinas face familiar foes in 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
The dream of making it to the Women's World Cup starts in India next year as the Philippine Women's National Football Team will have a huge task at hand as they face familiar foes and a powerhouse nation.
With just three months remaining before the main tournament, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) conducted the draw for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup group stages.
"Draw like any draw in the world provides some peculiarities. I knew that Australia would somehow fall into our group," said the Filipinas new head coach Alen Stajcic who handled the Matildas from 2014 to 2019.
The stakes are higher this year as the teams who would make it to the knockout stages could get a spot in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Coach Stajcic said, "It's going to be a challenge but it will be a challenge for everyone. This is a massive tournament and great pressure for every country. It's going to be a challenge but it will be a challenge for everyone. This is a massive tournament and great pressure for every country."
The Philippines, after a successful qualification to the Women's Asian Cup, immediately finalized the details of their preparation for the said tournament with training camps being set up in the United States around November 2021 to January 2022.
Coach Stajcic believes that with proper preparation, the Filipinas could possibly reach their dream of playing in the biggest tournament of them all; The FIFA Women's World Cup.
"If we keep improving and working hard in the next 2-3 months, I'm very confident that we can seal one of those berths in the World Cup."
The Philippines will kick-off its 2022 Women's Asian Cup campaign on the 22nd of January 2022 against Thailand which will then be followed by Australia on the 24th of January. They will cap off the group stages against Indonesia on the 27th of January.
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