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Grateful Filipinas hail Wellington crowd: 'It felt like it was our home'

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News 

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Supporters of the Philippines react during the FIFA Women" s="" World="" Cup="" group="" A="" soccer="" match="" between="" New="" Zealand="" and="" the="" Philippines="" in="" July="" Ritchie="" B.="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/07/26/fans.jpg"/><figcaption>Supporters of the Philippines react during the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup group A soccer match between New Zealand and the Philippines in Wellington, New Zealand, July 25, 2023.<em> Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>They entered the Sky Stadium expecting to play in front of a hostile crowd. Instead, the Filipinas received the kind of support that they have gotten used to whenever they play abroad.</p><p>Fans of the Philippine women&#x27;s national football team made their presence felt at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday, when the Filipinas defeated co-host New Zealand, 1-0, in the biggest upset of the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup so far.</p><p>A crowd of 32,357 fans watched the match at the Wellington venue -- including a boisterous Filipino contingent that entered the stadium while singing and dancing, clad in national costumes. Their noise reached a crescendo in the 24th minute, when Sarina Bolden nodded in Sara Eggesvik&#x27;s cross to put the Philippines ahead.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/24/23/filipinas-will-be-motivated-by-pro-nz-crowd-stajcic">Filipinas will be motivated by pro-New Zealand crowd, says Stajcic</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/25/23/filipinas-stun-new-zealand-for-first-ever-world-cup-win">Football: Filipinas stun New Zealand for first-ever World Cup win</a></li></ul><p>&quot;I feel electric,&quot; Filipinas co-captain Hali Long said after the match. &quot;We felt so much energy from the crowd, and we couldn&#x27;t have done it without all our supporters here, watching online, all of our families who came.&quot;</p><p>The Filipinas had enjoyed great support when they played Switzerland in their first-ever World Cup match last week in Dunedin, where they absorbed a 0-2 defeat. But they expected a different atmosphere in Wellington, where they would play the co-hosts. </p><p>Coach Alen Stajcic said his side will embrace the challenge of playing in front of a partisan crowd, though he also anticipated that Filipinos will come out in droves to support their national team. The coach noted that they have enjoyed cheers from Filipinos everywhere they have gone -- from Europe to South America, and now in New Zealand.</p><p>&quot;Wherever we&#x27;ve traveled around the world, there&#x27;s been a massive engagement with the local communities,&quot; said Stajcic on Monday. &quot;We&#x27;ve really felt that connection all around the world, regardless of where we&#x27;ve played.&quot; </p><p>The Filipino community blew away all their expectations. They kept up the cheering for over 90 minutes, with chants of &quot;Isa pa, isa pa,&quot; audible throughout the stadium after Bolden&#x27;s breakthrough goal. Philippine flags unfurled all over the Sky Stadium at the final whistle, with the supporters in ecstasy when the Filipinas&#x27; first-ever World Cup win was confirmed. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Harrison of the Philippines shakes hands with supporters after winning the FIFA Women" s="" World="" Cup="" group="" A="" soccer="" match="" between="" New="" Zealand="" and="" the="" Philippines="" in="" July="" Ritchie="" B.="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/07/26/sofia.jpg"/><figcaption>Harrison of the Philippines shakes hands with supporters after winning the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup group A soccer match between New Zealand and the Philippines in Wellington, New Zealand, July 25, 2023. <em>Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>For the players, their presence was invaluable.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/multimedia/slideshow/07/25/23/in-photos-celebrating-phs-first-world-cup-victory">IN PHOTOS: Philippines celebrate historic World Cup victory</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/25/23/philippine-fans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win">&#x27;Dream come true&#x27;: Philippine fans celebrate historic World Cup win</a></li></ul><p>&quot;So crucial. So, so crucial,&quot; said Bolden, the goal-scorer. &quot;It felt like it was our home. The screaming, the chants, the yelling. The &#x27;Pilipinas,&#x27; echoing throughout the stadium.&quot;</p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s going to live with me for the rest of my life,&quot; she added. &quot;I can just hear the love and support from so many supporters. Again, people came from so far away to come see us. Just really grateful to be in this position.&quot;</p><p>Eggesvik, who drew the foul that led to Bolden&#x27;s goal in the first place, said she thought the venue was full of &quot;mostly Filipinos&quot; </p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m so glad that people come here to support us and that makes it so much more fun to play. Knowing that they have our back and they are so supportive. I could really hear them tonight,&quot; she said. </p><p>&quot;I truly think I felt our fans were so much louder. That&#x27;s all I heard. I mean, we tried to make it seem like a home game and they really came through for us tonight,&quot; added goal-keeper Olivia McDaniel, who sealed the victory with a series of heroic saves in the closing stretch -- including a full stretch against a Grace Jale strike in the 93rd minute. </p><p>&quot;They were up for 12th man tonight, and all of our kababayans came out tonight. It was truly, you can&#x27;t put into words, it was amazing and we&#x27;re so thankful.&quot;</p><p>The Filipinas are now hoping to get the same kind of support in their final Group A match against Norway on July 30 at the Eden Park in Auckland. A victory over the European powerhouse -- Norway is ranked 12th in the world -- will propel the Filipinas to the round-of-16. </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=2734277" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Fans of the Philippine women's national football team made their presence felt at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday.

Grateful Filipinas hail Wellington crowd: 'It felt like it was our home'

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Grateful Filipinas hail Wellington crowd: 'It felt like it was our home'

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 26, 2023 03:49 PM PHT

Read More:

football

FIFA

FIFA Women's World Cup

Filipinas

PWNFT

Philippine women's national football team

Wellington

Sky Stadium

New Zealand

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