Torcaso begins Filipinas stint with eye on untapped local talent

A group of teenage girls from Makati Football Club celebrate after a victory in an international tournament. There is a lot of talent in age-group football nowadays and new Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso hopes to be able to develop them for the national pool. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

New Philippine women’s football team coach Mark Torcaso slipped into Manila this week with the intention of preparing the next chapter of the Filipinas’ journey and hopefully find some untapped talent.

“There’s so much talent here, there’s some unbelievable talent and hopefully we get to find a few more young players for the tournament and some local talent that might be available for the Asian Games,” Torcaso said in a video posted on the team’s social media account.

‘Good team players’

“It’s clear that there’s a lot of technical players out here so let’s try and find a few more and let’s try and develop that into being good team players and creating an environment where they’re all together as one and they’re working together for each other,” he added.

Torcaso is set to spend the next few days with the FIlipinas and the U-17s at Rizal Memorial Stadium to begin his reign as successor to coach Alen Stajcic, who left after the historic Fifa Women’s World Cup campaign.

The Aussie mentor is not only trying to acquaint himself with the team but also with the Filipino environment.

He was at Mall of Asia Arena on Monday to watch the Fiba World Cup game between the United States and Greece.

Torcaso will be tasked to handle the Filipinas in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, as well as the second round of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

One of his assistants, Sinisa Cohadzic, will call the shots for the squad that will play in the second round of the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in mid-September. INQ