The acid test begins for the Philippine women’s football team when it faces familiar foes in the second round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in late October.
*The Filipinas during its game against Vietnam
* The world no. 49 Filipinas were drawn in Group A with powerhouse and No. 10 Australia, No. 37 Chinese-Taipei and No. 67 Iran More than anything, the Philippines is set to rekindle its rivalry against Chinese-Taipei, which was the team that it defeated to qualify for the Women’s World Cup via a pulsating 4-3 penalty shoot out in January 2022. The Filipinas are getting another shot at Chinese-Taipei – the same team that defeated them in the second round of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers. Meanwhile, Philippines is up for a tough climb against Australia which earned a bye in the first round. The last time the two countries met, the Filipinas suffered a 4-0 beatdown during the group stage of the Asia Cup. The Filipinas, though, are eyeing to breeze past Iran, with the last of their two encounters ending in a 2-0 win for the nationals. With a total of 16 goals, the Philippines dominated the group stage and kept a clean sheet against Tajikistan, Pakistan and Hong Kong to emerge on top and advance to the next round. The Filipinas however couldn’t carry the stellar performance to the recently concluded 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia after falling short of qualifying for the semifinals and eclipsing its best record of bronze medal in the Vietnam edition. On the brighter note, the Philippines defeated eventual champion Vietnam in the pool play, which is also heading to the World Cup in July.