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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Stajcic beams with pride after guiding PH team to World Cup spot

Stajcic beams with pride after guiding PH team to World Cup spot

Published Jan 31, 2022 02:49 pm

Photo from AFC

National women’s football team coach Alen Stajcic is beaming with pride after steering the Philippines to its first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup berth following a dramatic quarterfinal victory over Taiwan in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

The Pinay booters needed a penalty shootout before edging past their Taiwanese counterparts, 4-3, at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India to pull off the historic achievement.

Stajcic understands the importance of the occasion, basing from his own experience back in his home country of Australia when the Socceroos had to wait more than three decades before competing in the World Cup back in 2006.

“It's a remarkable achievement. It's a once in a lifetime one that's never been done before. So it's not even once in a lifetime and you just really have to soak up these moments,” Stajcic said in the post-match press conference.

“As I watched the Australian men's team not qualify for a World Cup for 32 years. I knew the heartbreak every four years and lived from that from age eight to you know, whatever.

“I was 35 years old and just brought the whole country to tears and I'm hoping to have a similar effect back in the Philippines knowing that these girls have shown the life of football back in the Philippines,” he added.

Management led by team manager Jefferson Cheng wasted no time tapping the services of Stajcic, who guided Australia to quarterfinal berths in the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics, in a bid to reach for the unreachable goal.

The 48-year-old mentor said accepting the job was not a very hard choice, knowing how the Philippine squad did four years ago when it fell one win shy of a World Cup berth during the Asian Cup in Jordan.

“I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't see the potential,” said Stajcic. “I watched them play four years ago in Jordan while I was scouting as an opposition coach, and I knew that there was something there, a potential for an extremely inexperienced group and one that hadn't really competed at a major tournament,” added Stajcic.

A lengthy training camp in Irvine, California paid big dividends as the team performed well in the group stage which saw a breakthrough win over Thailand, a strong showing despite losing to Australia and a massive beating of Indonesia.

The World Cup-clinching match was another reason why the team continues to set higher expectations, and at the same time, exceed them.

“For them to progress this quickly, I’m just running out of superlatives to describe what an amazing achievement this is. To be able to grow and mature and play under this kind of pressure against all teams, just shows how far this group's grown,” he said.

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