U17 side added to Stajcic’s watch

MANILA, Philippines —  To sustain Philippine women’s football’s momentum, the key architects of the Filipinas’ stellar run capped by a historic FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification have been tapped to oversee the youth program as well.

Head coach Alen Stajcic was charged with concurrently handling the Under-17 side while his assistant Nahuel Arrarte was additionally given the U-20 portfolio.

This, according to the Philippine Football Federation, is meant to “streamline the program from the youth to the senior national team” and for Stajcic and Arrarte to “introduce their coaching style early to future Filipinas stars.”

“It’s very exciting. I think it’s an opportunity to align the senior national team along with young players coming through and it’s a similar process as we did with the senior team in regards to looking for the best Filipinas players possible,” Arrarte said during Wednesday’s media conference in Alabang.

Stajcic and Arrarte recently held tryouts for the U17 and U20 squads in the US to set things in motion. The two are set to hold similar screenings in Manila, Davao and Cebu next.

“I love the fact of going to a park tomorrow morning, for example and seeing 10 or 20 or 30 kids and seeing something new and different and exciting and seeing what freshness can come to a football pitch because you never know what you’re going to get. I love working with new players,” said Stajcic.

“Hopefully, I’m going to provide something for the players and more importantly, the staff around for them to be able to carry the torch,” he added.

The two coaches have a busy slate ahead with the Filipinas competing in the Pinatar Cup in Spain next month, the Olympic qualifiers in April and the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May before the main event, the World Cup in July-August.