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'Felt like a home game': Filipinas in awe of crowd support

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Team Philippines bows to supporters after the FIFA Women" s="" World="" Cup="" group="" A="" soccer="" match="" between="" Norway="" and="" Philippines="" in="" New="" July="" How="" Hwee="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/tvpatrol/07/31/team-philippines.jpg"/><figcaption>Team Philippines bows to supporters after the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup group A soccer match between Norway and Philippines in Auckland, New Zealand, July 30, 2023. <em>How Hwee Young, EPA-EFE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Norway head coach Hege Riise said they felt like an away team on Sunday when they played the Philippines in the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup at the Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.</p><p>Such was the impact of the fans of the Filipinas who packed the storied venue. Even an early goal for Norway did not deter the Philippine supporters, who stayed until the final whistle and cheered on the Filipinas whenever they threatened.</p><p>&quot;It feels like we were an away team playing a home team,&quot; Riise told reporters after her team completed a 6-0 drubbing of the Filipinas that sent them to the round-of-16 of the World Cup.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/30/23/filipinas-world-cup-campaign-ends-with-loss-to-norway">Filipinas&#x27; World Cup campaign ends with loss to Norway</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/30/23/football-filipinas-will-keep-going-vows-olivia-mcdaniel">Football: Filipinas will keep going, vows Olivia McDaniel</a></li></ul><p>In the mixed zone, Norway captain Maren Mjelde said that the Filipinas got &quot;excellent support.&quot; &quot;It must have been an amazing feeling for the Philippine girls to play in front of such an amazing crowd,&quot; said the Chelsea defender. &quot;They should be proud of what they&#x27;ve done.&quot;</p><p>According to FIFA, 34,697 watched the final Group A game between the Philippines and Norway, and the Filipinas said after the match that they knew most of the fans were pushing for them.</p><p>&quot;If there were 34,000 here tonight, there would have been 30,000 supporting our team. It felt like a home game,&quot; Philippines coach Alen Stajcic said. </p><p>The players could not hold back their emotions when asked about the support that they have received throughout their campaign in the World Cup. The hype and attention on the team grew steadily over the past week, with Filipinos in New Zealand, at home in the Philippines, and all over the world rallying behind the team as they made history. </p><p>While the Filipino community in New Zealand packed the venues, watch parties were held all over the country. Demand for merchandise of the team grew steadily as well.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The crowd at the Glorietta Center in Makati City reacts to a call as the Philippine Women’s national team falls behind Norway at the FIFA Women" s="" World="" Cup="" on="" July="" at="" Eden="" Park="" in="" New="" Zealand.="" Maria="" ABS-CBN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/tvpatrol/07/31/20230730-worldcup-norway-phi-mt-362.jpg"/><figcaption>The crowd at the Glorietta Center in Makati City reacts to a call as the Philippine Women’s national team falls behind Norway at the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup 2023 on July 30, 2023 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>&quot;Once again all of our kababayans here, they just outdid it. They outdid everybody and we couldn&#x27;t be more proud and just happy to have them here and it was amazing. They were once again our 12th man out there,&quot; said goal-keeper Olivia McDaniel, whose heroic performance in the Filipinas&#x27; upset of New Zealand made her a household name.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/29/23/stajcic-pleased-to-see-more-attention-on-filipinas-football">&#x27;Welcome to the party&#x27;: Stajcic pleased to see more attention on Filipinas, football</a></li></ul><p>Striker Sarina Bolden, who scored the game-winning goal against the Football Ferns, said they received &quot;such overwhelming support.&quot;</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s not often that you go to a tournament that&#x27;s a neutral zone, not your home country and it feels like a home game,&quot; she added. &quot;Thank you to our supporters, thank you to the people that stayed all the way to the end and just everyone who showed up.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We do this for you guys. At the end of the day, it&#x27;s not for us. We play for bigger reasons and to see football come from other countries, people fly over thousands of miles just to see us play a soccer game is amazing and we couldn&#x27;t have asked for a better crowd for the last two matches, all the matches really.&quot;</p><p>For Stajcic, the support that his team got only shows that football is on the rise in the Philippines -- a country that is best known for being a basketball hotbed. </p><p>&quot;Yeah, 75,000 people over three games and it&#x27;s virtually a home game for us here tonight,&quot; Stajcic said in a post-match interview with Optus Sport. &quot;To see that many people who love the game and follow the team is such a big reward for the players.&quot;</p><p>&quot;They&#x27;ve really lifted the sport up off the ground and everyone should be proud of it.&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=2741037" 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>

Norway head coach Hege Riise said they felt like an away team on Sunday when they played the Philippines in the FIFA Women's World Cup at the Eden Park.

'Felt like a home game': Filipinas in awe of crowd support

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'Felt like a home game': Filipinas in awe of crowd support

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 31, 2023 02:51 PM PHT

Read More:

football

FIFA

FIFA Women's World Cup

Filipinas

PWNFT

Philippine women's national football team

Sarina Bolden

Alen Stajcic

Olivia McDaniel

Norway

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