The Philippines football community has every reason to dream about seeing Malditas play in the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
The Philippines Women National team, the Malditas, are in the camp in California preparing for the AFC Women Asian Cup, which will be held in April in Jordan. According to my calculation, a draw and a win in that competition will send the Malditas to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
“We may have missed the 2015 edition in Canada, but we are four points away from France,” says Malditas Technical Committee Manager, Ernest Nierras.
The Malditas have a great shot to make it, too. Here are two great things that “Project Jordan” has achieved so far.
First, there were complaints that the National team’s coaches were picking players from schools and clubs they coach, even when those players were not good enough (objectively) to be selected. That has now changed. There are 40 top players in camp fighting for spots on a 23-women roster.
Courtesy: Washington Post
Second, Philippines National teams are often criticized for entering international competitions without sufficient preparation. That’s not happening this time. A good training environment has been created, quality friendly matches have been arranged, and the possibility of training/playing in Japan before departing to Jordan will only this team better.
Add to those improvements the possibility of having a local female coach amongst the coaching staff. That would be a welcome development!
So, all in all, the Philippines football community has every reason to dream about seeing Malditas play in the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
