Guillou strikes late as Filipinas salvage 1-1 draw

Katrina Guillou (No. 21) rescues the PH Team. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Coach Alen Stajcic could not be more proud of the way the Philippine women’s football team performed in holding highly-ranked Costa Rica to a 1-1 draw on Saturday (Manila time).

“Ninety minutes of courage, hard work [and a] lot of resilience,” Stajcic said after the first of their two friendlies held at Estadio Alejandro Moreta Soto in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose.

The Filipinas were moments away from suffering another close-shaved defeat to a fancied side when Katrina Guillou came to the rescue by rebounding her deflected attempt to stun the home side.

It cancelled an opening goal by Priscilla Chinchilla in the 57th as the Philippines got a morale-boosting result in its continuing preparation for next year’s maiden Fifa Women’s World Cup appearance.

“I just want to put the ball anyway possible and the ball just landed right at my feet,” Guillou said after her eighth international goal.

But like in the past, Stajcic was quick to point out to what his team needs to work on as the Filipinas shift their focus on the final friendly with the same enemy on Monday (local time).

“Defensively, I thought we were very good with limited possession in the game. On the flip side, our ability to keep the ball and pass the ball was not good enough,” he said.

“We have to really work hard to improve our technique and our first touch if we’re gonna compete against good teams like this and they’re at home, teams that are gonna be playing in the World Cup.”