SAN DIEGO — The Philippine women’s national football team concluded a successful training camp in San Diego, California, completing a two-match friendly series that served as a key building block in the Filipinas’ preparations for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
The camp, held at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, also doubled as a talent identification exercise for both the senior and under-20 national squads.
The Filipinas defeated WPSL side Albion San Diego on Wednesday morning (Philippine time)–a commanding 2-0 victory–with goals from veteran Chandler McDaniel and nineteen-year-old Natalie Oca.
On June 4, the Filipinas faced NWSL powerhouse San Diego Wave — a club bannered by Canadian international Adriana Leon, the third-highest scorer in Canadian women’s football history, and Filipinas prospect Nya Harrison — falling 1-0 in a tightly contested match decided by an own goal.
PFF President John Anthony Gutierrez, who attended the Filipinas friendly match with Albion San Diego, underscored the significance of the camp within the broader World Cup preparation cycle.
Competing against American professional clubs is exactly the kind of environment we want our players in — the level is consistently high, the tempo is unforgiving, and there is no better way to stress-test our systems and our depth ahead of Brazil. The San Diego camp gave us important answers about where this team stands and where it needs to grow.
“The results were competitive and encouraging,” Gutierrez added. “To keep a full NWSL side to a single own goal and to win convincingly against a quality WPSL club reflects a Filipinas program that continues to build on its SEA Games and Asian Cup success. We are on the right trajectory, and camps like this are exactly why.”
Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso described the camp as outstanding on multiple levels. “We got to play two very different opponents,” Torcaso said. “Against San Diego Wave — probably one of the best club teams in the world — the match provided continued development in our defensive game, our compactness, and the way we want to defend against very good teams. The girls were resilient and strong, and we were very happy with the outcome.”
The second fixture, Torcaso noted, shifted the focus to offensive development. “It gave us more time on the ball and the opportunity to continue developing how we create chances in the front third. We also gave opportunities to many players — including Kyra Murphy, Camryn Penn, Keira Wagner, and the return of Maysen Veronda — to assess what roles they can play within the team.”
The Filipinas, Torcaso added, now look at the Asian Games in Japan, with the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup remaining the program’s north star.
“The plan at Asian games is to further test our squad roster, as we will have many of our pro club players and college players unavailable due to there respective team commitments as Asian games is outside the FIFA window,” Torcaso said.
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In light of recent tragedies in the Philippines, Coach Torcaso issues the following statement in behalf of the Filipinas:
The Philippine women’s national football team is deeply saddened about the tragedies that struck the Philippines early this week–the massive earthquake that hit southern Mindanao and the death of our fellow athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili. On behalf of myself and the whole Filipinas team, we would like to send our love and thoughts to all the earthquake victims and the families and friends of the two Ateneo basketballers who passed away.
