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Football: Stajcic calls up 16-year-old Pasion for Olympic qualifiers

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Midfielder Bella Pasion. PFF photo/Handout." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/04/04/football_phi-bella-pasion.jpg"/><figcaption>Midfielder Bella Pasion. <em>PFF photo/Handout</em>.</figcaption></figure></div><p>Bella Pasion, a 16-year-old midfielder, is part of the final 22-player roster of the Philippine women&#x27;s national team for the first round of the AFC women’s Olympic qualifying tournament.</p><p>Pasion played for the Filipinas in the AFC women&#x27;s under-20 qualifiers last month, featuring in three matches. </p><p>&quot;Bella has earned her spot based on merit just like every player on this team,&quot; Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic said of the young midfielder.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/04/01/23/chandler-mcdaniel-back-in-ph-squad-for-olympic-qualifiers">Football: Chandler McDaniel called up to PH team for Olympic qualifiers</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/11/23/young-filipinas-score-breakthrough-win-in-afc-u20-qualifiers">Football: Young Filipinas score breakthrough win in AFC U20 qualifiers</a></li></ul><p>Pasion produced one of the best goals of the under-20 qualifiers when she smashed a screamer from outside the box in a 2-2 draw against Hong Kong.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">GOAL By Bella Pasion 54’<br/>🇵🇭2-2🇭🇰 AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LabanFilpinas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LabanFilpinas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FilipinasU20?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FilipinasU20</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/U20WAC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#U20WAC</a> 🎥 Laos FF <a href="https://twitter.com/BellaPasion2024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BellaPasion2024</a> <a href="https://t.co/opA0s3FCLM">pic.twitter.com/opA0s3FCLM</a></p>— Futbol Brew (@FutbolBrew) <a href="https://twitter.com/FutbolBrew/status/1634904957815255041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2023</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Stajcic was suitably impressed with her performance.</p><p>&quot;She&#x27;s put her hand up during the last youth camp and matches with the under-20s and has shown that she can compete at this level. She’s done really well in the last few days of training,&quot; the coach said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/13/23/coach-encouraged-by-young-filipinas-performance-in-afc">Football: Coach encouraged by young Filipinas&#x27; performance in AFC tilt</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/29/23/plenty-of-potential-among-young-filipinas-say-coaches">Football: Plenty of potential among young Filipinas, say coaches</a></li></ul><p>The Filipinas will open their Olympic qualifying campaign on Wednesday against Pakistan at the Hisor Stadium. Kick off is at 4 p.m. local time (7 p.m. in the Philippines).</p><p>They will take on host Tajikistan at 7 p.m. (10 p.m. in the Philippines) on Saturday, and wrap up their campaign against Hong Kong at 4 p.m. (7 p.m. in the Philippines) on April 11.</p><p>The Filipinas will need to top the group in order to progress to the second round of the qualifiers, joining seeded teams Australia, Japan, China, Korea Republic and DPR Korea.</p>

Bella Pasion, a 16-year-old midfielder, is part of the final 22-player roster of the Filipinas for the first round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.