With the target of reaching the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in sight, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) aims to strengthen its player pool of the Philippine Women’s National Team with a training camp and player tryouts set this August 2021 in Orange County, California, United States.
The tryouts and training camp mark the team’s preparations for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers scheduled for 13-25 September 2021. The Philippines, ranked 68th in the FIFA Rankings, will face Hong Kong (ranked 76th) and Nepal (ranked 100th) in Group F of the qualifiers. The top team at the end of the group stage will qualify for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 next year, for a chance to qualify to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Philippine Women’s National Team head coach Marlon Maro will oversee the tryouts and training camp in the United States. Joining him are assistant coaches Rose Ton Barinan, Michael Agbayani, Anthony Albao, and Marlon Pinero, together with physiotherapists Red Sajonia, Anna Demigillo, and Stella Perreras.
The Team Manager is Jefferson Cheng, who also serves as PFF Women’s Committee co-chairperson.
Maro weathers the expectation for the team as it bids to qualify for the Women’s Asian Cup for a second time after qualifying in the 2018 edition, where the country was a win away from qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019.
“Over the past few months, the team has been doing online training sessions in preparation for the tournament and most of the players have been unable to play on the field for the past year due to the pandemic,” said Maro. “The US training camp will help the players gain valuable playing time through proper training, and at the same time to reinforce the squad for the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers.”
PFF officials hope that the training camp will result in a good outing in the qualifiers.
“It has been a challenge for the Philippine Women’s National Team just to prepare for the qualifiers given the current situation. We hope that through this United States training camp, the players are able to prepare well for the qualifiers,” said PFF president Mariano Araneta. “We wish the team all the best in their bid to qualify to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup for the second straight edition.”
“It is the goal of the Philippine Women’s National Team to qualify once again to the AFC Women’s World Cup,” added PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes. “Through the US training camp, not only can we reinforce the Women’s National Team talent pool, but our players will gain the necessary playing experience as they gear up for their first competition in over a year.”
PFF invites all interested US-based women’s football players to join the tryouts which will be held on 04-12 August 2021. Player requirements are as follows:
- Must be at least 18 years old
- Hold a valid Philippine passport
Players must also send the following items to [email protected] and fill in the form in the QR code attached on or before 30 July 2021:
- Player CV
- Three (3) minute highlight video link
- One (1) full match video link (preferred)
