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Post by cjeagle on Feb 10, 2022 14:16:56 GMT 8
Stajcic: Qualification an unbelievable achievement for the Philippines The Philippines qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup yesterday It is the country’s first global finals for either gender Coach Alen Stajcic was full of praise for his players afterwards Philippines coach Alen Stajcic has hailed his players for the “once-in-a-lifetime” achievement of qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™. Next year’s showpiece will be the country’s first major global tournament for either men or women, and the Malditas sealed their place the hard way at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, enduring 120 gruelling minutes against Chinese Taipei before prevailing in the nerviest of penalty shootouts. But the way to that breakthrough success had been paved by group-stage victories over Thailand and Indonesia, the first of which was especially significant, leaving a beaming Stajcic to reflect on taking his place in history. "It's an unbelievable achievement by the group," enthused the former Australia coach. "It's a moment in history for the country and no one can ever take that away from us. It's a new bar that's been set "Now every young kid, girl and boy, back in the Philippines knows they can be inspired and get to a World Cup themselves. I know the group is really proud of each other but I know they're even more proud that they've inspired the next generation." Next up for the Philippines is a semi-final against the Korea Republic team that ousted Australia, Stajcic’s former charges, from the Asian Cup in a significant upset. The Malditas coach, however, was keen to enjoy the moment before worrying about the formidable challenge that the Taegeuk Nangja will pose. "I'm not even worried about the semi-final at the moment," he said. "I usually wouldn't say that, but we've just qualified for the World Cup and we're going to enjoy that. "It's a remarkable achievement - it's a once-in-a-lifetime one that's never been done before. So you just really have to soak up these moments." www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023/news/stajcic-qualification-an-unbelievable-achievement-for-the-philippines
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Post by cjeagle on Feb 10, 2022 14:24:24 GMT 8
Football: 'Internal rivalry' will elevate PH team, says Stajcic No one is guaranteed a spot in the Philippines team to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, with coach Alen Stajcic stressing the value of internal competition to elevate the team's overall quality. The Philippine women's national football team became the country's newest sporting heroes after their historic campaign in the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022. There, they made it all the way to the semifinals and in the process, booked a ticket to next year's Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But reaching the World Cup is one thing, and being competitive at that level is another. Stajcic, who is negotiating a contract extension with the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), is already thinking of the steps that the Philippines need to take to reach another level. "Now, we really just gotta sit back and evaluate, and see where we're at, and really, honestly see where we're at," Stajcic said in a recent press conference. "It's no time to sit back and pat ourselves on the back." "Of course, it's a momentous achievement, but now we really have to capitalize on this moment and ensure that the team really shines in 18 months' time," he added. One key to improvement, for Stajcic, is to increase the squad depth and the competition within the group itself. "The more competitions there is for spots within the group, the better the team is gonna be moving into the future," he said. "Just because those 25 (players) were the ones that procured that special moment and that special place in history, and got the team to the World Cup, it doesn't mean that they will be at the World Cup," he warned. "The team will only flourish when we have more depth and more players competing for spots, and more players who can play in the first eleven." The PFF called up 23 players and two reserves to the AFC Women's Asian Cup in India, seven of whom were uncapped heading into the competition. The PFF has already said that there is a deep pool of players available for the Philippine women's team, several of whom are based locally but could not make it to the team's training camp in California over visa issues. Other players with Filipino heritage have also expressed interest in suiting up for the country. "Ang full list namin is about 100. Some of them are playing professionally in the US and in Europe. So, mahaba, malalim ang ating roster," PFF secretary-general Atty. Ed Gastanes said. "Mahaba ang ating listahan ng possible na Filipino players." (Our full list is about 100. Some of them are playing professionally in the US and in Europe. So the list of potential Filipino players for the roster is deep and long) This will be welcome news to Stajcic, who stressed that the ambition of the team is "to get more players in, whether they're competing back home in the Philippines, whether they've been identified somewhere else around the world within the Filipino diaspora." "We need more players to compete for spots, and that will really push the team to a new level. And, that internal rivalry within any elite team, are really the things that drive any good sporting team to the heights that they reach," he added. "That's really when this team will really find its true potential, when we have massive competition for every single spot on the team." news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/...qfclvcnBDo31W9TIZrG7a8RwS1tNAPDVNtXFNn8LD2-AI
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Post by cjeagle on Mar 5, 2022 0:11:23 GMT 8
PFF retains Stajcic as PWNT braces for Women’s World Cup buildup Australian coach Alen Stajcic, who guided the Philippine Women’s National Team to a historic qualification to the FIFA Women’s World Cup last month, has signed a new contract that will keep him and his staff with the PWNT until the 2023 Women’s World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. PWNT team manager Jefferson Cheng made the announcement Friday after Stajcic, 48, agreed to an extension in a meeting in Sydney last March 1. Assistant coach Nahuel Arrarte and strength and conditioning coach Luca Tonetti will also remain with the team, Cheng said. With Stajcic at the helm, the Filipinas reached the semifinals of the AFC Womens Asian Cup in India for the first time after beating Chinese Taipei on penalties. The Filipinas, who lost to Korea Republic in the semifinals, finished joint third with Japan in the tournament won by China. “The next 18 months will be challenging for all of us at the PWNT as we do our best to prepare for the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” said Cheng. “We are all motivated, hopeful and looking forward to giving our best for the nation.” Cheng thanked Stajcic “for continuing on this journey with the PWNT.” Stajcic described his first stint with the PWNT as one of the best experiences of his career. “I’m delighted to continue our journey with the Phillippine Women’s National Team through to the World Cup,” said Stajcic. “The Asian Cup performances were remarkable and phenomenal, but to share it with a group of staff and players that exemplified humility, gratitude and passion for the (Philippines) shirt is what really made it special. I’m extremely excited to help lead the team in the next chapter as we head for the pinnacle of our sport.” Stajcic’s next task is to lead the Filipinas in the Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam in May. The Filipinas will also see action in the AFF Women’s Championships in Manila in July before vying in the Asian Games in China in September. PFF president Mariano Araneta and PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes are pleased to have Stajcic on board as the Filipinas prepare for the FWWC next year. “The PFF is honored to continue working with a truly world class coach in Alen Stajcic whose professionalism and attention to detail have been instrumental in raising the level of the PWNT,” said Araneta. “The team’s performances in India showed that he is the best coach to also lead us in our first FIFA Womens World Cup appearance.” “Coach Alen Stajcic showed that the Philippines can be a top-caliber team in the women’s game,” said Gastanes. “We are very delighted that he has committed to the team as it prepares for several women’s competitions this year in the build up to the World Cup.” pff.org.ph/2022/03/04/pff-r...pmaMuyPdHVgEqR46mu4f4kz67anjb-jHyhcQ5ohuZ7vnw
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Post by cjeagle on Mar 11, 2022 23:23:33 GMT 8
Despite offers from Australia, Europe, Stajcic still made ‘decision of the heart’ When the news of Alen Stajcic’s renewal with the Philippine Women’s National Football Team was announced, there was widespread relief and joy across social media. The man who led the country in its historic AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 campaign is staying on for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and Philippine football is blessed that a man of his caliber is leading the charge. “I’m very excited actually to start this whole process and the journey to the World Cup,” said the 48-year-old Australian mentor. “Making it to the World Cup was unique, it was phenomenal, it was extraordinary, and it was real hard work, but now the real hard work starts. “We really need to ensure that we do everything we possibly can from this point forward. We’ve got about 17 months now to prepare. I think it was 500 days just the other day to the World Cup so we have to make sure we use every single one of those 500 days to the best of our abilities to give this team the best possible chance of representing our country the best way we can,” he continued. “They’ve already shown how much passion they play with. How proud they are to wear the jersey and now it’s up to us to give them the best opportunity to do it on the world stage.” For a coach of his standing, Stajcic received multiple offers to take his talents elsewhere after defying expectations with the Philippines in the Asian Cup. Despite the temptations to move somewhere else, the former Central Coast Mariners instructor followed his instincts to remain loyal to the country. “I think as I have known coach Alen, he’s a professional,” said team manager Jefferson Cheng. “He has always been determined and committed to the Philippine Women’s National team ever since we had him on board last year. I think, of course, commercially, because of the success we had last year and also with his position as one of the leading coaches, not just in Australia or internationally, there are also a lot of other offers. “But I think you could see that his heart is with the Philippine national team and I respect him greatly for that and I think that was what made him decide to extend the contract so to speak. We’re very fortunate to have coach Alen and his team with us because I could see they are the right coach and the right team to bring us through to the World Cup.” On a personal note, Stajcic’s initial success with the Filipinas and the bond he and his lieutenants, assistant coach Nahuel Arrarte and strength and conditioning coach Luca Tonetti, have formed with those in the team, its management, and the employees of the Philippine Football Federation proved too strong to be left abruptly. “It definitely was a decision of the heart. “There were other offers. There was a European club, there was a men’s national team, and even some interest here in Australia in the men’s pro league, but being just around some wonderful people, the players, and the staff, it was really a joy to be a part of that group,” he said. “You know the executive staff of the PFF, it has really been a pleasure to meet everyone, be in touch with everyone, engage with everyone. For me, we started the journey so now it’s the process of really getting into the fun part and working hard to get to that World Cup so definitely a decision of passion and heart,” he added. With Stajcic’s contract done and dusted, the focus now shall be on the PWNT’s upcoming campaigns in the SEA Games this May, the AFF Women’s Championship that will be hosted locally, and the Asian Games in China this September. Competition for places in his squads for those tourneys is heating up as expectations for the PWNT will be higher from now on. “Certainly the players who went to India, they earned the right to represent the country and did it fantastically well. For anyone who wants to challenge that spot, and I hope we have lots of challenges for those spots. As I said some people are unfortunate they couldn’t get visas to go to the camp or travel to India,” he said. “Ultimately, no one owns that shirt. They’re just renting it so anyone who comes along and performs better and shows more skill, more passion, more dedication will earn the right to have that shirt but certainly, the 23 who wore the jerseys in India, it’s theirs to lose but for everyone else, it’s gonna be a tough challenge now to get that shirt. But it’s open to everyone,” he opined. “That’s how national teams should be. It should be a competitive rivalry. We should have depth in competition and the competition should be done in a respectful way. We should have people who are banging down the door trying to get into that team… There’s a lot of interest now to try and get into this team which is great.” tiebreakertimes.com.ph/tbt/...ajcic-still-made-decision-of-the-heart/233826
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Post by cjeagle on Jun 30, 2022 0:35:27 GMT 8
www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/how-things-stand-in-fifa-womens-world-cup-qualifying Eleven nations already assured of their places at Australia & New Zealand 2023 Twenty-one slots remain up for grabs July set to be a huge month in qualifying across the world Already qualified for Australia & New Zealand 2023 Australia, China PR, Denmark, France, Japan, Korea Republic, New Zealand, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Vietnam Up next CAF Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (2-23 July) Concacaf W Championship (4-18 July) Copa America Femenina (8-30 July) OFC Women’s Nations Cup (13-30 July) UEFA qualifying matches (23-28 June; 31 August-5 September)
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Post by cjeagle on Jul 19, 2022 22:04:24 GMT 8
PHILIPPINE Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta Jr. is lining up more international friendly matches for the Filipinas, the newly-crowned AFF Women’s Championship queens, to boost their FIFA world ratings higher for a better draw in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup scheduled in October.
“The draw will be in October that is why we are trying to schedule more games for the Filipinas against opponents that are higher than us in the rankings so they, hopefully, will also improve their ratings,” said Araneta during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) online Forum on Tuesday.
On the way to winning the country’s historic first major international football title, the charges of Australian Alen Stajcic toppled Asian football titans Australia, Vietnam and Thailand, which are ranked Nos. 12, 32 and 43, respectively. By beating their higher-rated rivals, the Filipinas, currently ranked 53rd, can expect marked improvement once the latest ratings are out, which Araneta said would give the side a better spot in the World Cup draw barely three months away.
“Coach Alen told me that we only need four to eight points to go from the fourth to the third pot. This will help the Filipinas avoid facing the heavyweights early in the tournament,” the football chief explained.
“There has been an invitation from World Cup qualifier Costa Rica to play in Costa Rica and another from New Zealand. Those friendlies are now on the pipeline” bared Araneta.
The Kiwis and Costa Ricans are presently ranked Nos. 22 and 37, respectively, in the FIFA rankings.
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The Filipinas win over Australia's U23 team will not be considered in the FIFA rankings because it is not their A side but the 4-0 wins over Vietnam and 3-0 wins over Thailand will help us move up the rankings by quite a bit.
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Post by cjeagle on Sept 25, 2022 8:08:25 GMT 8
ESPN has a country by country review of all the qualified teams to the Women's World Cup as it stands listed in sequence acc. to when they qualified. www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-wo...have-qualified-for-fifa-womens-world-cup-2023Philippines (53) Through expansion comes opportunity, and the Philippines have felt this in more ways than one. The expanded Asian Cup and World Cup tournaments (there will be an additional eight teams at the 2023 Women's World Cup) have presented more opportunities than ever, and the national team, under head coach Alen Stajcic, have gone on a recruitment drive, tapping in to the Filipino diaspora, particularly in the United States. The Malditas have played a monumental 25 matches in 2022, with the Asian Cup, Southeast Asian Games, and AFF Championship -- which they won on home soil -- providing tournament experience. Scheduled friendlies against Costa Rica will provide further opportunities to benchmark themselves against a fellow World Cup-bound side. N.B. The Philippines have changed their moniker and is no longer the Malditas. They just call themselves the Filipinas.
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 22, 2022 13:17:00 GMT 8
The Philippines will know the countries it will face in its historic FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance next year when the official draw for the tournament is staged at the Aotea Center in downtown Auckland on Saturday. Having qualified following a semifinal finish in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India early this year, the Filipinas are one of the five debutantes in the most prestigious women’s football tournament in the world that will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20, 2023. “It’s a really exciting time for Philippine football as we will finally determine which teams we will be facing in our first FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance,” said PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta. “To be part of the tournament is already a tremendous honor for the country, but we also have to dream big and come up with a good showing,” he added. From 24 teams, the 2023 tournament has been expanded to 32 countries with 29 already punching their tickets to the competition. Three more countries will qualify through the inter-continental playoff in February next year. PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes said the draw will help the federation plot the remaining months in preparing the team for the World Cup. “We will definitely pull out all the stops to ensure that the team will go into the World Cup as prepared as possible,” Gastanes said. PWNT team manager Jefferson Cheng and head coach Alen Stajcic will be in attendance for the draw that will be graced by no less than FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The 29 qualified teams and three playoff tournament placeholders have been placed into four pots of eight teams each, based on the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings. With its No. 53 ranking, the Filipinas have been placed in Pot 4 together with four African qualifiers. The three placeholders for the playoff tournament winners will be allocated to Pot 4. FIFA’s general principle in the tournament states that teams from the same qualifying zone cannot be drawn into the same group, except for Europe. This means the Filipinas cannot be in a group with fellow AFC teams Australia, Korea Republic, Japan, China and Vietnam. With 11 teams from Europe (possibly 12 pending inter-confederation play-off results), each group will have a minimum of one team from UEFA with three (and potentially four) groups having two European teams. Teams will be randomly drawn into eight groups, A through H, with each group containing four teams. Each group will contain one team drawn at random from each pot, except for New Zealand and Australia, which will head Groups A and B, respectively. The other teams in Pot 1 are top-ranked United States, No. 2 Sweden, third-ranked Germany, No. 4 England, fifth-ranked France and sixth-ranked Spain. Pot 2 is composed of Canada (No. 7), Netherlands (No. 8), Brazil (No. 9), Japan (No. 11), Norway (No. 12), Italy (No. 14), China (No. 15) and Korea Republic (No. 17). Denmark (No. 18), Switzerland (No. 21), Republic of Ireland (No. 24), Colombia (No. 27), Argentina (No. 29), Vietnam (No. 34), Costa Rica (No. 37) and Jamaica (No. 43) are in Pot 3. The other teams in Pot 4 are Nigeria (No. 45), South Africa (No. 54), Morocco (No. 76), Zambia (No. 81).
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 22, 2022 13:22:26 GMT 8
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 22, 2022 13:50:17 GMT 8
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 22, 2022 15:58:03 GMT 8
It is official. The Philippines were drawn in Grp A with New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland which is I think is a good group for the Philippines to be in comparatively.
The Philippines nearly defeated #22 ranked New Zealand in a recent friendly so it is a team they could potentially have a win over and I think they can be competitive with #21 ranked Switzerland.
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 22, 2022 16:15:39 GMT 8
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 22, 2022 16:29:57 GMT 8
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Post by xyz1000 on Oct 23, 2022 4:55:18 GMT 8
Good draw. New Zealand will be pumped in front of a home crowd. Norway is the highest rated in the group, although I'm glad we didn't get anyone from the top 5.
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 23, 2022 17:28:07 GMT 8
They also lucked out in being situated entirely in New Zealand. Some of the teams in Australia will have to travel 2000 miles for their next fixture after the first game in their group.
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