CHONBURI – Just before the lights on at Chonburi Daikin Stadium on Wednesday, the light bulbs went on for the Philippine women’s soccer team.
The Philippines, in their latest major action, took their position as the new queens of the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG).
It was a shining moment in a country once considered soccer’s baby, which often enjoyed a moral victory by scoring a goal in the tournament or, at worst times, simply putting the ball in the final third.
After decades of trying and watching Vietnam or Thailand grab the tiara, the Philippines finally sat on the SEAG throne.
“Anytime we can put our country on top and talk about it and make sure people talk about us and know how strong we are, I think that’s the most important thing,” said forward Liv McDaniel after the Philippines matched its history by defeating Vietnam on penalties, 6-5, after a 0-0 tie at the end of overtime.
“I’m proud of this team, I’m proud to be a Filipino and to play for our country. People doubt, they say we’re not here. But we’re part of this conversation, we’re at the top and we continue to prove ourselves again and again and we want to always be at the top,” he added.
The road to the top was tough for Filipinos.
They started off on the wrong foot, losing to Myanmar in the pool game, 2-3. But they took revenge hard, beating the Vietnamese to stay alive, 1-0, and beating Malaysia 6-0, to get a seat in the semis. That led them to compete against the host Thais, where they again fought 0-1 and took five penalties and ended up winning 4-2, reaching the final for the first time.
Against Vietnam, the Philippines relied on sixth-place hitter Jackie Sawicki’s forward kick and Ms. McDaniel’s excellent save against Tran Thi Thu in the shootout to complete their climb.
“We didn’t want to end up losing, we’re going to win gold or we’re going to eat bronze, we didn’t choose for ourselves so the gold was ours to take,” said captain Hali Long, who played his song 101.St match the team in the clincher.
“We didn’t lose in our first game to lose in the end, we got out of the hole we put ourselves in and fought and crawled and did everything we could to reach the semi-finals and put them far away, and when we went to PKs (penalties) I saw that it was ours.”
Mrs. McDaniel praised the team’s performance in the new game, which followed their 1-0 victory over hosts New Zealand in their first match at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and their landmark win at the 2022 Asean Championships in Manila.
“It was a really tough game (in the finals). Some of us played five 90-minute games and two overtimes and PKs so there were really heavy legs. But every team we played, they were always down, none of us were sitting down, none of us were tired, none of us were struggling.
“We had that mindset of going forward and continuing. I think what brought us to this gold medal and what brought us to the end is the mindset of never stopping and never giving up.” – Olmin Leyba
