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Football: Triumph against Chinese Taipei a display of Pinays' growth, spirit

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The Philippines" starters="" against="" Chinese="" Taipei.="" Photo="" courtesy="" of="" the="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/sports/02/01/02012022-football-women-pwnft-1.jpg"/><figcaption>The Philippines&#x27; starters against Chinese Taipei. <em>Photo courtesy of the AFC</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>&quot;The laban we have, it&#x27;s insane.&quot;</p><p>This was how the Philippines&#x27; goal-keeper Olivia McDaniel described the mentality and spirit within the Philippine women&#x27;s national football team, a group that has already made sporting history many times over in the course of the last two weeks.</p><p>For McDaniel, this &quot;laban&quot; was most evident in the Philippines&#x27; quarterfinal game against Chinese Taipei in the AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup last Sunday in Pune, India, where they flirted with heartbreak before pulling out an unforgettable victory.</p><p>Up 1-nil after 48 minutes, the Filipinas surrendered a wonder goal to Chinese Taipei&#x27;s Zhuo Li-ping in the 82nd minute, which forced extra time. Neither team could manufacture a goal in the ensuing 30 minutes, sending the match into a penalty shootout -- the first of the tournament.</p><p>McDaniel, who just failed to get her fingertips on Zhou&#x27;s long-range hit, was admittedly upset at giving up the equalizer just eight minutes from time.</p><p>&quot;My first thought in my head is, &#x27;I&#x27;m gonna go scream at whoever let that happen&#x27;,&quot; she said. &quot;But then, I take a moment with the defense, and I say, &#x27;Okay, whatever just happened, happened, but we need to move on, and we need to keep our heads up.&#x27;&quot;</p><p>&quot;And, it&#x27;s important for us, because at practice, we always talk about, everyone is going to make a mistake in the game,&quot; she added. &quot;No one is going to be completely perfect, and it&#x27;s how we react to those mistakes and those things that just don&#x27;t go our way.&quot;</p><p>&quot;And I think we reacted really well, and we kept our guard up, and we kept fighting.&quot;</p><p>McDaniel herself embodied that fighting spirit in the penalty shootout, where the Filipinas came moments away from what would have been a brutal defeat. They were down 3-2 in the shootout, with Jessica Miclat and Hali Long having missed their spot kicks.</p><p>A conversion by Su Hsin-yun would have won the match for Chinese Taipei, but her soft effort was saved by McDaniel, giving the Filipinas a lifeline. Then, in what their coach later described as an &quot;unbelievably brave&quot; act, McDaniel stepped up to take the fifth penalty, coolly converting it to send the shootout into sudden death.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/31/22/mcdaniel-hailed-for-unbelievably-brave-performance">READ: PH GK McDaniel hailed for &#x27;unbelievably brave&#x27; performance</a></li></ul><p>She underscored her status as the team&#x27;s hero when she saved Zhuo&#x27;s final spot kick, setting the stage for striker Sarina Bolden to score the winner -- and sealing the Philippines&#x27; spot in the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup 2023 in New Zealand and Australia.</p><p>&quot;We did not stop,&quot; said McDaniel. &quot;And I think that&#x27;s truly a part of our character and personality of this team. And I think it rang true for us (against Chinese Taipei).&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/31/22/filipinas-advance-to-fifa-womens-world-cup">MATCH REPORT: History made as Filipinas advance to FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup</a></li></ul><div><strong>A CHANGE IN BELIEF</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1912839" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>For Bolden, the match-winning penalty also gave her a measure of redemption. She missed a spot kick against Indonesia in their final game in the group stages, but showed nerves of steel in beating Chinese Taipei &#x27;keeper Cheng Ssu-yu.</p><p>A veteran of the team who had previously played in the 2018 edition of the Women&#x27;s Asian Cup, Bolden is proud of how far the team has come in a relatively short amount of time.</p><p>&quot;I think this team has really grown from the past,&quot; said Bolden, pointing to their win against Chinese Taipei as the ultimate proof of their progress.</p><p>&quot;You know, if that kind of goal had happened, maybe the energy might have deflated a bit in the past,&quot; she admitted. &quot;But… in this tournament, if a goal happens, we don&#x27;t let that define us. We don&#x27;t let that bring us down.&quot;</p><p>&quot;If anything, we let that fuel us, and I think that&#x27;s been a driving force of this team. Even when it comes to the second half, we&#x27;re still gonna keep driving and pushing, and yeah, even though that goal happened, we&#x27;re not gonna allow it to kill our spirit,&quot; she stressed.</p><p>Bolden had experienced heartbreak with the Philippine team before, notably in 2018 when they fell one win short of a World Cup spot. In the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, they were up 1-0 against Myanmar in the bronze medal game after an hour, only to give up two goals in a span of three minutes.</p><p>But in the on-going Women&#x27;s Asian Cup, the Filipinas have not only exorcized the ghosts of their previous shortcomings -- they have also continuously raised the bar for themselves.</p><p>They opened their campaign with a 1-0 win against Thailand -- the first time they had beaten the Southeast Asian powerhouse. What followed was a gritty effort against Australia, though they lost 4-0 to the Matildas. A 6-0 rout of Indonesia gave them momentum heading into the knockout round.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/28/22/womens-asian-cup-philippines-books-quarterfinals-seat">READ: Philippines books quarterfinals seat</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/25/22/football-pinays-outstanding-despite-loss-to-aussies">READ: Pinays &#x27;outstanding&#x27; despite loss to Aussies</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/23/22/for-pinays-win-against-thailand-just-the-first-step">READ: For Pinays, win against Thailand just the first step</a></li></ul><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The Philippines during the penalty shootout. Photo courtesy of the AFC." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/sports/02/01/02012022-football-women-pwnft-2.jpg"/><figcaption>The Philippines during the penalty shootout. <em>Photo courtesy of the AFC.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>&quot;I would say there&#x27;s been a change in belief,&quot; said the 25-year-old Bolden, who plays club football in Japan&#x27;s WE League for AS Elfen.&quot;[We have] belief that we are a team that can compete, all the way down to the 95th, plus, minute.</p><p>&quot;A lot of that is because of the coaching staff we have today,&quot; she explained. &quot;They&#x27;ve given us a great foundation, great principles, great standards that we all hold ourselves to. And so, those are great things to fall back on when times get stressful.</p><p>&quot;When another team scores a late goal in the second half, we can believe that, &#x27;Hey, we&#x27;ve been practicing this stuff, time and time again. We believe that we are the better team, and you know, let&#x27;s not freak out. Let&#x27;s not lose this belief that we can do it.&#x27;</p><p>&quot;This is soccer, and these things happen, but you know, the better team prevails if we&#x27;re able to execute, and for me, most importantly, believe that we&#x27;re gonna win,&quot; she concluded.</p><div><strong>FILIPINO SPIRIT</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1912836" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>During Monday&#x27;s online mixed zone with Bolden and McDaniel, Indian journalist Radha Lath Gupta of She Talks Ball made note of the energy of the Filipinas, which she witnessed firsthand in Pune&#x27;s Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.</p><p>Asked to explain how the Filipino spirit is displayed through their game, Bolden highlighted the passion, resilience, and hard work that they all showed against Chinese Taipei -- and how all those qualities eventually led to the most important triumph in the country&#x27;s football history.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s just like, passion. And Filipinos, our resilience is legendary,&quot; she said. &quot;No matter what, you will see Filipinos working so hard and putting their hearts, their souls into everything that we do.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I think that&#x27;s what you saw that day -- you saw girls communicating, yelling, screaming, no matter where they were, because that&#x27;s just how Filipinos do it. We&#x27;re loud, we&#x27;re proud,&quot; Bolden added.</p><p>&quot;And we&#x27;re gonna work hard. We&#x27;re gonna go all the way to the end. We&#x27;re never gonna give up,&quot; she guaranteed.</p><p>The Filipinas have at least one more match to display that fighting spirit when they battle South Korea in the semifinal of the tournament. Their last match against the Koreans was in the 2018 AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup -- a 5-0 loss that dashed their hopes of playing in Paris 2019.</p><p>Though their goal of playing in next year&#x27;s Women&#x27;s World Cup is already achieved, the team is still determined to put their best foot forward against a South Korean team ranked 18th by FIFA.</p><p>&quot;This is just another opportunity to grow as a team… and see where we are,&quot; said Bolden. &quot;Can we hang with them? I have no doubt in my mind that we&#x27;ll be able to give them a good run for their money.&quot;</p><div><strong>Related video:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1912140" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Football: Triumph against Chinese Taipei a display of Pinays' growth, spirit

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Football: Triumph against Chinese Taipei a display of Pinays' growth, spirit

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 01, 2022 06:47 PM PHT

Read More:

football

AFC Women's Asian Cup

Philippines

Philippine women's national football team

PWNFT

Sarina Bolden

Olivia McDaniel

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