latestnews

Phnom Penh: Head coach Mark Torcaso was a happy man after the Philippines kept their winning run going by beating Hong Kong, China 1-0 to book their place at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™.

The Australian had set several targets for the Philippines going into the Qualifiers and was pleased that his players achieved every single one of them as they topped Group G with a perfect nine points.

“We came with the objective to qualify and not to lose and not to concede, and we did that,” said Torcaso.

“That was a really scrappy game (on Saturday) and maybe we should have gotten a penalty which would have smoothed the game out but we did everything that we needed to do.”

Despite going into Saturday’s decider with a two-point advantage over Hong Kong, China, victory was the only thing that Philippines desired and it took only four minutes for them to go ahead through Chandler McDaniel.

The Southeast Asian side then shut all doors to their goalmouth and can now look forward to the Finals, having achieved a semi-final appearance at the 2022 edition which sealed a historic berth at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.

“We’re now looking forward to the ASEAN tournament (in August) with probably a slightly different squad because some players weren’t available for this Qualifiers due to club commitments.

“It will be a combination of young and senior players and we’ll look to defend the title and use that as part of the preparation for the Asian Cup in Australia.”

‍