MANILA, Philippines — Sarina Bolden and the Philippine women's national football team want to extend their winning ways in the AFF Women's Championship after redeeming themselves of their previous heartbreak at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last Monday.
Their 1-0 victory over Australia to open their Group A matches was a much-needed rebound from their heartbreaking 1-2 loss to Myanmar in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, where they fell short of the podium finish in front of a Filipino crowd.
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With more of their games set to be played on home soil, Bolden is keen on keeping the victories coming.
"It's really special," Bolden said of the victory after the game on Monday.
"Like I said, the growth of how far this team has come. Last time I'm here, losing, and remembering how heartbreaking that feeling was. But now, starting a tournament, winning, it means so much," she added.
Bound for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup next year, the Women's Championship is only a step in the bigger picture for the Filipinas.
But Bolden also eyes to make the Filipinos proud in the short term with more wins in the tournament.
"[F]or me, and I can speak for the other girls too, we just want to continue to grow and get better, 'cause we have the World Cup coming up," said Bolden.
"And we want to go as far as we can in this AFF tournament to help better ourselves for the World Cup. So we want to continue to keep winning, and growing and becoming a better team than the last time that we played," she continued.
Bolden and the Filipinas continue their push for their first-ever podium finish in the regional tiff when they face Singapore tonight at 7 p.m.