Women lead the way in historic night for Philippine football

The Philippines are champions of the AFF Women’s Championships 2022 after beating rivals Thailand 3-0 at a jampacked Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

A dominant first half performance saw the Filipinas lead two goals to none by halftime, courtesy of Jessica Cowart and Katrina Guillou.

Thailand came back strong in the second half, creating chances of their own, but Sarina Bolden scored a late goal which ended the Thai resistance and crowned the Philippines as champions for the first time.

Here are five things we learned from the championship winning final from the Philippines.

1) Filipinas are deserving champions

There is absolutely no doubt about it.

Convincingly beating Thailand 3-0 in the final, after comprehensively dismantling defending champions Vietnam 4-0 in the semi-finals leave no doubt that the Philippines fully deserve to win the tournament.

Playing unstoppable football at times, the Filipinas have swept past all challengers this tournament, including an Australia team that were beaten 1-0 on the first matchday.

The defense was similarly top notch, conceding only two goals in seven games.
This, despite a very tough schedule of games that came in every other day, which gave the chance to Coach Alen Stajcic to rotate his players and give minutes to each and every member of his squad.

Dominance in the set pieces was one of the keys to victory for the Philippines, who fully exploited their advantage in the air.

In the end, the coaching staff had a gameplan which the players executed perfectly, en route to this most famous of victories.

After losing in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup in January, Bolden promised the nation that "one day we’ll make you proud."

Well, Sarina, you most certainly have done so, and more, today.

2) Hali Long leads by example

Even after going down by two goals, you just knew that Thailand would not go away that easily. And as the Filipinas tired in the second half, Thailand tried to seize the momentum as they attempted to make a second half comeback.

But they ran into the force of nature that is Hali Long, who would thwart the Thais time and again with her stalwart defending.

And as Thailand desperately tried to rattle the hosts with some physical play, Long displayed leadership at the back as she would provide her own brand of physicality needed by the Philippines to see off the Thai challenge.

Prior to the game, Long said it was ‘time to make bawi’ (time to make amends) against the Thais.

She made true to her promise with a player of the match performance in the final.

3) Sawicki and Eggesvik shine yet again

They will never top any goal scoring charts, nor will they be the most recognizable members of the team, but the impact of Jackie Sawicki and Sara Eggesvik on the team is immense and cannot be emphasized highly enough.

The stability with which they provide the defense has certainly been the base from which the team moves forward.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” says Sawicki.

“Defensively, I’m not necessarily trying to win the ball right away, I’m trying to protect my backline and then on the ball trying to have a calm presence and trying to connect (the team).”

“And if (we) lose the ball, try to win it back and get connected and organized right away.”

Sawicki gives credit to midfield partner Eggesvik as well.

“Credit to Sara, it’s her first campaign and it’s a lot of information to take in being a new member of the team.”

“And I’m quite new still as well, the SEA Games was my first campaign so I think we’re just trying to help each other and our teammates around us.”

“People that have been veterans on the team who have been here longer, help us as well.”

“We’re all just trying to communicate and mesh together and do whatever we can just to support each other cause at the end of the day, we all have the same goal and we’ve got each other’s backs.”

4) Crowd was the X-factor in the tournament

Coach Stajcic called for a full stadium to come out and support a World Cup bound squad, and in the final, the fans heeded the call.

As early as three hours before kickoff, a third of the main grandstand area was already full of red-shirted fans, ready to show their support to the heroines who have already brought so much glory to the country.

And the crowd was in full voice and the atmosphere was electric as the referee signaled the start of the match, with most fans literally occupying any available space in the grandstand just to catch the action.

An early headed goal by Cowart set the mood nicely for the Filipinos in attendance, who came ready with flags, scarves and even some eye-catching football attire.

Olivia McDaniel was full of praise: “Oh my God, the crowd was amazing.”

Long was equally as effusive with her praise: “We couldn’t have done it without the crowd.”

Captain Tahnai Annis says: “Crowd is amazing. We will not have dominated without fan support.”

And the 8,000 fans in attendance, the most in any recent memory, will most definitely say that the feeling of gratitude is mutual.

5) Big strides for PH women’s football

The Philippines beat Thailand 1-0 in the Asian Cup in January, and although the core of that Philippines team is still very much around, the manner of this 3-0 victory in the AFF Women’s Championships in Manila feels so much different.

Despite the victory in the first encounter, the Filipinas were very much pegged back and were on the defensive for the most part.

Just six months later, the Philippines took the game to Thailand and played them toe to toe, not backing down from the challenge of the Thais, even when the going became rough and physical late on.

Add to that the demolition of defending champions Vietnam and one truly has to marvel at the progress of the Philippines under Stajcic, who has the team fully committed and buying into his system.

Annis sums up the night.

“Just joy and happiness (tonight) to win a championship in this country,” she said.

“So proud. We are just starting to believe in ourselves. The hard work is really starting to show.”

“Hopefully, we'll have everyone excited about Philippine football and not just women's football.”

Having now conquered Southeast Asia, the next challenge will be for the team to contend and compete with the bigger teams in Asia, something Coach Stajcic is targeting for the team.

“Our job now is to become the best in Asia now. We’ll try to conquer the big ones of Asia,” he said.

And at the rate the team is progressing, it is hard to bet against them.

Annis vows: “It's only the start, we'll gonna give everyone a show in the World Cup next year.”

Everyone is certainly looking forward to that, and as has been the case many times over, it is the women who lead the way.

—JMB, GMA News