Filipinas put up ‘satisfying’ tough fight vs South Koreans

PHILIPPINE women’s football coach Mark Torcaso expressed satisfaction with the tough fight the Filipinas put up against Asian power South Korea and the valuable lessons bought home from the two friendlies in Icheon.

The No. 39 Filipinas wrapped up the five-day Icheon sortie with a 1-2 defeat to the No. 20 Koreans Monday night with defender Angie Beard scoring their lone goal off a 74th-minute free kick.

This came after Friday’s 0-3 setback in a match that saw them play their fancied opponents on even terms for a good 72 minutes before the hosts racked up three goals towards the finish.

“We were without (Sarina) Bolden, (Jacklyn) Sawicki, (Merryll) Serrano — three key players. (We had) some youth mixed with some experience and to come and give Korea a very tough two games, we‘re absolutely delighted with that,” Mr. Torcaso said.

“Even with some key players missing, we’re able to fight hard. It’s a trait that Filipinos have: they fight to the end. We saw that in the World Cup (last year) and we’ll continue to see that going into the future and into major tournaments,” he added.

The two friendlies provided the Philippines with needed exposure to top level games against one of the Continental heavyweights while integrating young players and new faces into the program.

“For me, the last two games have been a learning about our team, our courage and our fight…We’re very happy with this group and obviously, we want to keep getting better and bridge that gap and make sure next time we have these chances, we can win the game,” Mr. Torcaso said. — Olmin Leyba