The Filipinas loosen up for practice on eve of friendly against Sweden. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
The Philippine women’s football team sees itself in the best form possible by the time the Filipinas take their historic step on the pitch in the Fifa (International Association Football Federation) Women’s World Cup.
“There are some things that we need to learn, some things we need to improve on,” said Quinley Quezada. “But as of now, we really want us going into the World Cup at our peak, at our strongest, so I’m really excited about that.”
Closed-door
At least a glimpse of it could come out Monday with a scheduled closed-door friendly against a superior squad in Sweden, which is considered one of the teams that could challenge for the World Cup title the United States has held for the last two editions of the quadrennial meet.
The match, to be held in Wellington where Sweden has set up its base camp, will have three 30-minute periods instead of the standard two 45-minute halves.
Sweden placed third in the 2019 edition and is favored to come out on top of Group G which also has Italy, Argentina, and South Africa.
It will feature three quality strikers — Kosovare Asilani, Fridolina Rolfo, and Stina Blackstenius, who have accounted for a combined 97 goals while donning the Swedish shirt.
Asilani is a 33-year-old veteran attached to Italian side AC Milan, Rolfo plays club football for Spanish club FC Barcelona while Blackstenius is with England’s top Women’s Super League team Arsenal.
Members of the Philippine women’s football team, including Sofia Harrison (first row in white shirt) and Olivia McDaniel (third row, fourth from left) pose with members of the Maori community for the traditional New Zealand welcome ceremony known as “pōwhiri.”
Other familiar names on Sweden’s official World Cup roster are goalkeeper Zecira Musovic from Chelsea and defender Magdalena Eriksson of Germany’s Bayern Munich.
Quezada has both individual and team goals she wants to meet in the friendly as it will give the Filipinas a test of how their 18-month preparation has translated.
Only warm-up
“Individually, I just want to see how I perform against top opposition,” she said. “Their speed of play is intense, [and] really high. They’re really physical so I wanna see how I can match up with it.
“Also team-wise, we’re just trying to see these situations that we get into, see how we can grow from it, how can we learn and we’ll take what we learn from that game and bring it to our World Cup matches.”
The friendly is the only warmup for both teams before plunging into action, with the Filipinas opening their campaign Friday against Switzerland in Dunedin and Sweden facing South Africa two days later in Wellington.
By accepting a match with Sweden in Wellington, the Filipinas have traveled 641.8 kilometers on Sunday from Auckland where the team’s base camp is located.
The team was greeted by members of the Filipino community upon arriving at Wellington International Airport.