Olivia McDaniel lauds Filipinas' defense in upset vs host New Zealand

Olivia McDaniel showed what the Philippine women's national football team are made of in the Filipinas' 1-0 conquest of host New Zealand in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on Tuesday at the jam-packed Wellington Regional Stadium.

The Filipino-American goalkeeper said they knew the Football Ferns would be in high in morale coming into the game, especially after their own stunner over world no. 12 Norway, 1-0, in their World Cup opener.

"We expected it. We knew they were gonna come with a high press, they had so much momentum from their win against Norway so we knew that was coming," McDaniel said.

"But we know, my defense, we handled it well. We handled it as best as we could and that's all we can ask for."

The 25-year-old McDaniel said the win didn't come easy, giving credit to New Zealand for putting the pressure on the Philippines in front of more than 30,000 spectators in the arena.

New Zealand actually had more possessions and attempts than the Philippines.

The higher-ranked hosts controlled 69 percent of the possessions while the Philippines only held 31 percent. In terms of accuracy of passes, New Zealand also had the upper hand at 73 percent while the Filipinas were at 49 percent.

The Ferns had 16 attempts with four of those on target, while the Filipinas had only four shots with one on target.

But of all those shots, it was only Filipinas striker Sarina Bolden's header in the 24th minute that found its way inside the net.

"They gave us their everything, they gave us their all. And you know, all we can do is just get the ball and we did that. They came at us and we kept fighting and the last five minutes felt like 20 years but it worked so we're happy," she added.

McDaniel also said having loud cheers from Philippine fans at the venue gave them an added boost despite a partisan crowd from New Zealand.

"I truly think I felt our fans were so much louder. We tried to make it seem like a home game and they really came through for us tonight. You can't put it into words. It was amazing."

—Bea Micaller, with reporting by Ryan Fenix/JMB, GMA Integrated News