Araneta likes chances against South Korea

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine football team battles FIFA No. 18 South Korea in the semifinals of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India, 4 p.m. tomorrow with the odds stacked against coach Alen Stajcic’s squad but Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said yesterday anything is possible and he’s not discounting an upset.

“We’re No. 64 in FIFA and in this competition, we beat No. 38 Thailand and No. 39 Chinese-Taipei,” said Araneta. “With the confidence of our players and the morale-boosting qualification to the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year, I like our chances (against South Korea). They’ve sacrificed a lot for this and they’re hungry to move forward.”

Araneta said the missing link in the team’s previous attempts to qualify for the World Cup was the coach. When Stajcic became available last October, Araneta said it was the turning point. “We qualified for the Asian Cup last September but felt we had to take our team to the next level. In the Asian Cup, we wanted to be competitive. Mahirap yung tambakan. Luckily, coach Alen was available. We actually signed him to a contract only up to the end of the Asian Cup. We found coach Alen to be very supportive and humble. When India backed out of the tournament because of COVID, he expressed empathy and felt sorry they couldn’t play. He loves the game and enjoys competition, not to mention he’s very capable because he took the Australian women’s team to two World Cups and the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics.”

Araneta, one of six Asian representatives in the FIFA Council and AFC Executive Committee member and chairman of the Finance Committee, said at least three more competitions await the women’s team before the 32-nation World Cup in Australia and New Zealand on July 20-Aug. 20 next year. The first is the SEA Games in May in Hanoi then the ASEAN Women’s Championships in Biñan or Rizal in July or August and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September. The women’s squad claimed the bronze in its first SEA Games in 1985 and has since been out of the podium, finishing fourth in the last two editions.

“We’re looking forward to medal in the next SEA Games and we’re excited to play in our first Asian Games,” said Araneta. “To prepare for the Asian Cup, our team got together in Irvine, California, for a camp with coach Alen last Dec. 4. We decided to do a camp abroad because of health restrictions in the Philippines. In Irvine, some of our players tested positive so to make most of their time, we did Zoom training. The others continued court training. From Irvine, they went straight to India last Jan. 12 so they sacrificed a lot during the holidays. We hope to keep our team intact but our pool is large to make up for players with commitments in leagues in Europe, Japan and other countries. We’re optimistic that our women’s team will make the same impact on our sports community as the Azkals in 2010.”