Filipinas mentor Mark Torcaso is enthusiastic as FA WSL player Maz Pacheco joins the Filipinas squad in Turkiye.
The Philippine women’s national football team program is in high spirits following the addition of long-standing prospect Maz Pacheco to the 26-woman squad headed for Turkiye for the upcoming Pink Ladies Cup later this month.
Pacheco, born to Filipino parents in England, brings years of experience from top flight football in Europe while also having national team experience in the youth squads of the famed England Lionesses.
Since 2015, Pacheco appeared 35 times for the England national teams and scored twice from the U17 to U21 teams until as recently as 2019. She won bronze with the Lionesses in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2018.
Meanwhile, in club football, she’s competed under teams like Liverpool, Reading, West Ham United, and currently Aston Villa.
She competes in England’s top tournament for women’s football — the FA Women’s Super League. Last season, she scored twice for Aston Villa in 23 appearances for the year.
“Maz provides our group with professionalism, experience and excitement. After talking to Maz she is very excited to come into camp and get into training. Maz will work with our group to familiarize herself with our way of play,” said Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso.
“She, along with a few other new faces will bring freshness and competition amongst the group.”
[RELATED: Aston Villa's Maz Pacheco included in Filipinas squad list for Pink Ladies Cup in Turkiye]
Torcaso also expressed excitement for Janae De Fazio, a product of the UCLA Bruins. She won a national championship in 2022 and was a Pac-12 Conference Champion.
She made her professional debut with NWSL side Kansas City Current earlier this year. She played 24 minutes in Kansas City’s 3-0 preseason win over Pachuca. She also signed a contract with Portugese club Racing Power FC.
“We are excited for Maz to be part of this, but equally excited for Janae De Fazio who has just spent the summer with Kansas city in the NWSL,” said Torcaso.
The Aussie mentor said that they are looking to roll out something new in anticipation for their Women’s Asian Cup qualification and the AFF Women’s Championship, plus the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand.
“We want to keep expanding our pool of players and allow everyone every chance to play for our national team in the future. We have some fresh faces, some World Cup players return and also some youth. This is an exciting group and we are very much looking forward to Turkiye,” said Torcaso.
“We will roll out our new playing style and begin to build for our Asian cup qualification, as well as AFF and SEA games. This is a great chance for us to get our players back together after a long time away from each other,” he added.
Torcaso also mentioned players who were unavailable for the Filipinas due to injury or college commitments like Katana Norman, Camille Sahirul, Reina Bonta, Inday Tolentin , Alexa Pino, and Carleigh Frillies.
In Turkiye, the Filipinas face off against Jordan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.