From barely getting recognition, the Philippine women’s national football team is set to make its FIFA World Cup debut next month. The historic opportunity came when Sarina Bolden fired the penalty kick for the Philippines in their dramatic shootout against Chinese Taipei in the Asian Cup in 2022. Staring at the tall task ahead, the Filipinas striker is excited more than anything to see their growth materialize in the biggest football meet. “Yes, a lot happened. There are so many things I can look back on and just be like, ‘Wow, that was great, and that was great'. To sum it all up, it was like growth,” Bolden told FIFA in an interview. “Everything we did, we got better and better and better. And that’s what’s really exciting for me because last year was so great and now we have this opportunity and even a little bit of pressure to top what we did last year,” she added. The Nationals flew to Sydney, Australia last week for the final phase of their training and to get themselves acclimatized to the weather conditions before heading to New Zealand for their group stage fixtures. The Philippines was tangled with a set of much higher-ranked opponents in Norway, Switzerland and host nation New Zealand in Group A. The Alen Stacjic-mentored Philippines will open its campaign against Switzerland on July 21 in Dunedin followed by New Zealand on July 25 in Wellington. It won’t be the first time that the Filipinas will face New Zealand after having played in a friendly last year in the United States that saw the Philippines lose 2-1. Still, the game against New Zealand remains the Filipinas’ biggest fighting chance in the World Cup as they took a halftime lead in that match courtesy of Bolden’s goal. The Philippines will then wrap up its group campaign against the top favored and world No. 12 Norway on July 30 in Auckland. Despite being on the back foot of the global showpiece, the 26-year-old forward sees the opportunity as something beneficial for the women’s football in the country. “I think it just brings awareness for women’s [football], not only in the Philippines, but worldwide. I still talk to people today who don’t even know there’s a Philippines women’s national [football] team,” she furthered. “So, I’m like, ‘Yeah there is.’ And before I joined, I didn’t even know. Starting from when I joined to now, more people are familiar. So it’s about the traction. I know being in the World Cup is going to bring a lot of awareness. I hope the younger kids and people of all ages want to get more involved in soccer and us being on that stage is going to really help.” As football continues to rebuild itself in the Philippines, the sport has the Filipinas to thank for the recent interest and recognition of the public.