Filipinas come home after World Cup run as history makers—and with more work to do

They were met with flowers, banners, and even young girls who were excited to take photos with them after their World Cup stint. Their historic win against host New Zealand was the talk of the town in the past weeks. 

The group had their homecoming presser at the Adidas Brand Center at Glorietta on Thursday, Aug. 3.

“It’s a homecoming,” Filipinas’ goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel said. “It’s been a long time since we were able to come back here [because] we were traveling, getting ourselves ready for the World Cup, [and now] back to everyone who has been supporting us.” 

Winning moments

The Filipinas kicked off their campaign against Switzerland—a momentous event where the Philippine national anthem Lupang Hinirang was played for the first time in any FIFA World Cup event. 

It was at that moment when the squad, who received criticism from traditional sports fans for mostly "not being pure-blooded Filipinas," showed the world that they embodied being Pinoy and deserved to represent the country at the biggest stage of women’s football. 

“If you could get close-ups of us seeing the national anthem, a lot of us are in tears or just have so much emotion. That moment just embodies the feeling in that particular time,” said national team mainstay Ryley Bugay, who has played for the Filipinas since the 2018 Asian Cup, where they narrowly missed a World Cup berth. 

From the get-go, the Filipinas showed that they were meant for the world stage. Unfortunately for the team, luck was not on its side as Katrina Guillou’s early goal was flagged as offside. 

Just right before halftime, Jessica Cowart drew a crucial foul against Swiss midfielder Coumba Sow which awarded Switzerland a spot kick. It allowed veteran player Ramona Bachmann to open the floodgates with a penalty kick that lifted both Switzerland, 1-0, and she eclipsed Fabienne Humm as Switzerland’s top Women’s World Cup scorer with four goals. 

Despite the momentum shifting in favor of Switzerland and Seraina Piubel doubling the lead, the Filipinas won the hearts of the world in their next game when they secured their first win against host New Zealand, 1-0. 

It was thanks to a clinical finish by Sarina Bolden with a header off an assist from Sara Eggesvik in the 24th minute. Bolden solidified her name in history as the first Filipina goalscorer in any FIFA World Cup—men’s or women’s. 

Filipinos from both the Philippines and those present at Wellington’s roaring crowd of 32,357 watched the Filipinas hold the score until the end of the game, but it was not all pretty. 

New Zealand had several nerve-wracking attempts and hearts momentarily stopped when Jacqui Hand’s 64th-minute strike was deflected by the goal post and her goal was disallowed for being offside four minutes later. 

But it was this victory that changed the game for the Filipinas as they made international headlines and instantly brought awareness of their football prowess to locals. 

A first #FIFAWWC to be proud of, @PilipinasWNFT! 🫶 pic.twitter.com/CR2j7sbaIw

— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) July 30, 2023

Excitement brimmed all over the country as major malls organized watch parties all over the country for their last group stage against Norway—perfect for the Sunday crowd of mall-going Filipinos. 

As Norway sat at the bottom of Group A before Sunday’s game, expectations were high for the Filipinas even against the world No. 12. 

But the win-hungry Norwegians capitalized on their experience over the Filipinos with a dominant 6-0 win that featured a hat-trick by Sophie Roman Haug and goals from recently crowned UEFA Champions League winner Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten. 

The Filipinas also struggled to recover as Alicia Barker scored a goal three minutes into the second half. 

What’s next? 

Despite the country’s World Cup campaign coming to an end at the group stage, the Filipinas are looking forward to proving that it’s not just luck that they made it once, but they’ll be back—and there are many more milestones to achieve. 

“Playing in the World Cup is something you dream about when you’re a little kid, so to actually achieve it and play on the actual world stage is unbelievable,” said Chandler McDaniel, the sister of Olivia. 

“I don’t think there are words to truly describe that feeling but I know that all of us want to do it again so all of us have to work hard and move on to the next one.” 

Before the Filipinas made their way back to the country, there were already big movements within the squad as head coach Alen Stajcic, who steered the Philippines to World Cup glory, is named the new manager of Australian men’s club Perth Glory, which competes in the A-League. 

Despite his departure, the Filipinas are confident that they’ll be able to move forward with a lot of learnings from him. 

“I think the belief in ourselves that we can compete with these top nations, he really brought that out of us and now that we know what it feels like, we have that confidence going forward,” said forward Guillou. 

The Filipinas’ showing in the World Cup is already an open door of opportunities to play in different leagues all over the world. But a bright spot for local football is the participation of McDaniel sisters Olivia and Chandler in the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) Women’s League as they join Stallion Laguna FC. They’ll soon be seen competing against Kaya FC’s Hali Long and Inna Palacios, long-time captains of the Filipinas. 

“I’m just so excited that we’re going to come back and play in the PFFWL and just to be able to play with our homegrown players, we just want to grow it, and to do that with my sister will be a journey and an experience, so I’m just so excited,” shared Olivia. 

The action doesn’t stop for the Filipinas as up next for them is the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 and the second round of Olympic qualifiers for Paris 2024 in Perth, Australia in October.