It’s now or never for the Philippine women’s national football team when it tackles Iran in the second round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the Perth Rectangular Stadium, HBF Park. 

The world No. 44 Filipinas should get over their 8-0 loss to the Matildas a few days prior and aim for a second-best place finish against the Iranians at 4 p.m. (Manila time). 

The Philippines absorbed a -5 goal difference after the painful defeat, but was largely saved thanks to its impressive 4-1 opening victory over Chinese Taipei to remain in the hunt for a spot in the next round. 

For the Filipinas to qualify for the Olympics, they might have to vie for the “best second place” scenario as the Matildas already look primed to claim the top seed all the way through against the bottom seed Chinese Taipei side in Group A. 

Only the top teams in each of the three groups of four will earn an outright berth to the third round, including the best second placer. 

In the end, only the top two sides in the four-team final will head to the Olympiad. 

As it stands, the Philippines is third in the ranking of group runners-up behind North Korea (+1 GD) and Vietnam (+1 GD). 

With Mark Torcaso working with a complete roster for the first time since his appointment as the head coach, the Filipinas should take all the lessons from their previous games against top nations to give themselves a fighting chance to the final round of the tournament. 

The Nationals will be playing a team which managed to defend fairly well against Australia and only conceded two goals to settle for third in the group standings. 

So far, it has been Sarina Bolden who leads the scoring for the Filipinas when she delivered a brace in their opening game against the Chinese Taipei side.