It was always going to be an uphill battle against World #8 Japan, but the Filipinas produced a gutsy defensive performance bowing out 7-0 at the quarter final stage of the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup.
It was first the time any Filipino national team played at the iconic Sydney Olympic Stadium with a pro-Filipino crowd of over 13,000 fans cheering on the SEA Games champions.
While the Filipinas are familiar with Sydney and its surrounds having used it as a training base for the 2023 FIFA World Cup with practice matches against Tonga, Fiji and Papua New Guinea; the size, scale and occasion of an Asian Cup quarter final at an iconic venue is something the team will remember and relish for years to come.
The Filipinas started with an even more defensive 5-4-1 formation with Long and Cowart as the centre backs. The resting of regular starters McDaniel, Beard, Eggesvik and Guillou gave an insight into Head Coach Mark Torcaso’s approach to the game as the FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff match approaches.
The Japanese team started brightly and used their short passing game to dominate possession and the midfield. It became quite evident that the Filipinas’ game plan was to sit extremely deep in defence and repel wave after wave of Japanese attack.
The Filipinas’ game plan was extremely effective during the first half with the courageous back five working for each other to stifle the Japanese attack. Filipina goalkeeper Meollo was very busy in goals and made several critical saves further frustrating the Japanese team. The Japanese team resorted to long range efforts on goal as their short passing was becoming more and more ineffective.
It was only through a corner in the 45th minute that the Filipinas defence was broken by Tanaka with a scrappy goal. The second goal of the first half came shortly after through another corner with Koga scoring a header from close range to close the first half at 2-0.
The second half continued in the same fashion as the Filipinas continued to defend and play on the counter. It took until the 65th minute for Japan to add to their half time lead with another two quick goals in succession to make it 4-0. The final result of 7-0 does not reflect the determination and heart the Filipinas displayed throughout the game.
While the result means the Filipinas are now officially eliminated from the Asian Cup, their Australian adventure continues in a few days’ time on the Gold Coast where they will play a playoff match against Uzbekistan on Thursday 19 March for a place in next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. All attention now focuses on this match with the Filipinas hoping to qualify for only the second time in in their history.
