The Philippine Women’s National Football Team made its debut in the Pinatar Cup in Spain with a narrow 1-0 defeat against Wales early morning yesterday, Manila time.
Ranged against the higher-ranked Welsh squad, which is also preparing for the UEFA Women’s Nations League in September, the Filipinas gave their opponents a good match but an unfortunate foul in the penalty area in the 44th minute of the game proved to be the difference.
Kayleigh Green’s right footed strike to the bottom left corner gave Cymru the lead and eventually the game as Wales got off to a winning start in the tournament that also has Scotland and Iceland competing.
Despite the loss, Filipinas’ head coach Alen Stajcic was happy with the way his squad played in another historic match for the Philippine side.
“Considering that we’re in pre-season and the opposition right in the middle of their season, the jetlag, we’ve had delayed flights, we’ve had players ill and we’ve had players coming in really late to camp. That was an amazing effort, probably one of our best in terms of effort. We went up against players in the super league and some of the big clubs as well so it was a really good effort and the team showed a lot of discipline defensively,” Stajcic said after the game.
Stajcic made two changes after the break. Subbing in Eva Madarang and Katrina Guillou for Isabella Flanigan and Quinley Quezada to change the pace of the game. The pair made an immediate impact but Guillou’s attempt was parried away by Welsh goalie Safia Middleton-Patel. It was only the shot made by the Filipinas throughout the game as Wales dominated ball possession, had 11 more shots and seven more corners than the Philippine side.
Despite these stat lines, the Filipinas’ defense made the game close and it was even acknowledged by Wales Manager Gemma Grainger when she told BBC sport that “it was a tough game, they sat in deep and made us work.”
For his part, Stajcic assured that there were so many takeaways from the game especially on how the team can hold on to the ball better. He also noted the penalty late in the first half as something they have to address in future games.
“It’s the fourth or fifth penalty we’ve given away and we’ve got to learn on those kinds of things but apart from that, I thought we did really well. Dom (Randle) herself had a strong game defensively,” he said.
The Filipinas will next face Scotland on February 18, 10 p.m. Manila time before capping their Pinatar campaign against Iceland on February 22, 3.30 a.m. Manila time.
“A lot of things to look forward to in the next week and hopefully, we can freshen the squad up for Game 2 and see how we go against Scotland who are as good as a team or even better (than Wales),” Stajcic added.
The Pinatar Cup is an invitational women’s association football tournament in San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia. At least four teams are invited to join the competitions. It started in 2020 but got canceled the following year because of the pandemic. It resumed last year with Belgium winning the title. Scotland won the inaugural tournament.
The opposition in Pinatar might be formidable, but then again the Filipinas have something that Wales, Scotland and even Iceland, ranked 16th in FIFA rankings, doesn’t have: a ticket to the biggest football event in Australia and New Zealand this year in July.
Speaking of a big event, a new book on basketball coach and icon Joe Lipa will be released next month. If schedules will allow, the book will come out by the third week of March.
Titled as “Coach Joe Lipa’s Basketball 101”, the book aims to be the most detailed guide for coaches and players of the most favorite sport in the country. Seasoned coaches or even those, who are just starting their careers calling the shots whether in elementary, highschool, collegiate and even professional cage leagues can learn a lot from the mind of one of the greatest local coaches the country ever had.
Aside from the subject itself, what makes the book equally interesting is the fact that The Designated Kit Man’s college classmate and Bedan Brother, Sonny Regalado Lopez wrote the book along with Coach Joe. Dean Ronnie Dizer of UP College of Human Kinetics and Faith Nacional-Rahi also played major roles in the publication of the book.
“Coach Joe is one of the greatest coaches we ever had. He was the only coach in our history to lead the Philippines to podium finishes in Asian basketball with purely homegrown players,” Lopez said.
Pistol Pete was my AB Philosophy and Letters classmate in the former best boys’ school in Mendiola before he shifted to Marketing Management and has made a career in Marketing Communications. He is a basketball coach and skills mentor based in the South of Manila as a means of staying connected to the game.
He was also a former varsity player for Benedictine Abbey School also known as San Beda College Alabang and originally wanted to go to UP Diliman just to try out for the Maroons and play under Coach Joe after growing watching Lipa during his heydays in the defunct Philippine Amateur Basketball Association while coaching other teams in different levels.
Lipa, a disciple of the great Bobby Knight of Indiana University and ‘84 US Olympic coach, has seen it all when it comes to coaching. Aside from his exploits with the national team, Lipa also ended his alma mater’s 47-year title drought when he guided the UP Maroons to the UAAP men’s basketball championship in 1986 with Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano. Aside from coaching in the PABL and UAAP, Lipa also had stints with Manila Beer, Shell, Air 21, Columbian Motors in the PBA.
“Although Ron Jacobs (the former coach of the national basketball team) was the first to introduce it in local basketball, it was coach Joe, who first appreciated the details and intricacies of motion offense in 1983. Motion offense is still being used by former coaches of the national team until recently,” Lopez explained.
Coach Joe’s book will come in two editions—one for coaches and one for the Department of Education (DepED). The latter will be proposed to DepEd as an accredited reference material in the public school system. The DepEd Edition aims to have PE teachers, through the book, instruct the fundamentals of the sport in Grades 5 to 12 classes as part of their PE curriculum the proper and scientific way coming from the point of view of Lipa.
Great job Peter!
I can’t wait to see the book when it comes out.
Please don’t forget to watch and tune in this Sunday, February 12, 2023 from 2-3 p.m. for another interesting discussion at 3PTS–Pambansang Tambayan ng Sports over DZME 1530 KHZ.
Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!
For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at [email protected] or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat
