A moment of truth awaits the Philippine national women’s football team in their clash with Uzbekistan, on Thursday, in the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026.
The winner gets one of the last two elusive 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup slots that is at stake to the remaining four contenders in the play-in matches of the tournament.
“Our girls did a fantastic job to get us to this point, to be in contention, and (get) qualified,” said national coach Mark Torcaso, on Wednesday’s pre-match press conference at the Cbus Super Stadium in the suburbs of Robina at the Gold Coast.
Action between Uzbekistan White Wolves and the Filipinas is set at 11 a.m. (Manila time) on Thursday at the Cbus Super Stadium.
The Filipinas campaign is supported by the Philippine Football Federation and the Philippine Sports Commission.
While Filipinas were relegated to the play-ins after a 0-7 loss to Japan to the quarterfinals, the White Wolves absorbed a 0-6 setback to South Korea on Saturday in Sydney.
“We already did our job here by reaching the quarter-finals but we still have one more goal to achieve. We dream of reaching the World Cup and we hope to do our job there,” said White Wolves coach Kotryna Kulbyte, in a statement after the game.
In their past games, the White Wolves have won three of their previous four matches with the Filipinas since 1997, while a friendly game last October at the Rizal Memorial Stadium ended in a 2-all draw.
Torcaso is expected to field a full roster against the White Wolves, including a fully-rested veteran goalie Olivia McDaniel, who was absent in their clash with Japan, while her sister Chandler is expected to lead the offense.
Against the Koreans, Uzbekistan’s key players like Lyudmilla Karachik, Maftuna Shoyimova and Nilufar Kudratova were on the bench, and are expected to play against the Filipinas.
During their friendly with the Filipinas, Karachik played and served as the team captain for Uzbekistan during the match, while Kudratova was a core forward for the squad, and was fielded in with Shoymova.
Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva, who scored the two goals for the White Wolves during their friendly with the Philippines, will once again be a scoring threat.(INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS AND EVENTS (ICE) OFFICE)
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