Progress is a good thing.
The Philippine Women’s National Football Team (PWNFT) may be a beaten bunch, but it remains unbowed. In fact, these no-quit, always-fighting Filipinas are sticking to the positives, and they appear right on schedule—perhaps not necessarily in the Pinatar Cup, where they have lost their first two matches, but in their ultimate quest for World Cup glory.
Count Filipinas captain Tahnai Annis as among those dwelling on the positives as the team continues to build towards the World Cup in July. One of these positives, according to Annis, is the Filipinas’ near-indomitable spirit, which shows in the way they gut it out on the field in every minute of every possible moment.
“Again, we fought all the way until the end [against Scotland], and we’re able to get that late goal. So, you know, our effort and our resilience are always there,” said Annis, who also pointed out the Filipinas’ improved playmaking in their second match, which resulted in a late breakthrough goal from Meryll Serrano.
“I think we did create some better opportunities for ourselves [compared to last game],” added Annis. “Scotland won more moments than we did. But the team effort, again, was there.”
That effort was palpable right from the very beginning, and it was that all-out approach that mainly allowed the Filipinas to keep up with the imposing, more physically gifted Scots.
And while Scotland controlled the match, the Filipinas kept gutting it out until the final whistle—so much that they began charging the net, culminating in Serrano’s breakthrough goal off a beautifully executed set piece.
“I think we can continue to progress from that [late-game effort vs Scotland] going into the Iceland match in a few days,” Annis concluded.
The captain is probably right about the Filipinas making progress—not only in time for their match against Iceland on Wednesday morning, but also for their first ever World Cup five months from now.