The Filipinas have taken another big, bold step towards making history again.
The Olympic dream of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team (PWNFT) is alive and well after a successful first round in the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Hisor Central Stadium in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The Filipinas, already with two dominant wins versus Pakistan and Tajikistan, punctuated their opening round efforts in the qualifiers with another tour de force, routing old nemesis Hong Kong, 4-0, in coach Alen Stajcic’s 100th international match as tactician (64 for Australia and 36 for the Philippines).
The inimitable Sarina Bolden led the way for the Filipinas, opening the scoring five minutes into the match and ultimately finishing with a brace—giving her 20 goals in her impressive PWNFT career. Meryll Serrano added a goal to cap the Filipinas’ strong first half, while Quinley Quezada added another goal early in the second half to push her career total to 22.
The 4-nil victory is in stark contrast to the Filipinas’ last win over Hong Kong in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, which ended 2-1 after a late goal by Chandler McDaniel. The win is also indicative of the Filipinas’ changing fortunes in international competition as they again beat a Hong Kong side that had won 5 of the teams’ last 8 meetings prior to that breakthrough win in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
With their spotless record in the first round—three wins, three clean sheets—the Filipinas are now headed to the second round, along with North Korea, Japan, Australia, China, and South Korea, which all got a bye in the opener by virtue of them being the five highest-ranked teams in the FIFA women's world rankings. Also through to the second round are the Filipinas’ Southeast Asian rivals Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Uzbekistan, India, Iran, and Chinese Taipei.
Second round action will be held in October, or three months after the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The third round will be held on November 27 and December 6, with the final two winners getting the coveted Olympic tickets allotted for Asia.