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Football: PH women's team grouped with powerhouse Australia in AFC Asian Cup

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The Philippine women" s="" national="" football="" team.="" Photo="" courtesy="" of="" the="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/sports/10/28/football_pwnft.jpg"/><figcaption>The Philippine women&#x27;s national football team. Photo courtesy of the PFF.</figcaption></figure></div>(UPDATED) The Philippine women&#x27;s national football team has been grouped with two Southeast Asian rivals and a global powerhouse in the group stage of the 2022 AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup in India.In the draw ceremony held Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Filipinas were drawn into Group B, together with neighboring Indonesia and Thailand, as well as Australia, a team ranked 11th in the world.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Football: PH women" s="" team="" grouped="" with="" powerhouse="" Australia="" in="" AFC="" Asian="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/sports/10/28/asian-cup-draw.jpg"/></figure></div>Thailand is ranked 39th in the world, while the Philippines is 68th, and Indonesia is 92nd.Host India is in Group A along with China, Chinese-Taipei, and Iran. Defending champion Japan is in Group C along with South Korea, Vietnam, and Myanmar. This will be the Philippines&#x27; second straight appearance in the AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup, after topping Group F of the qualifiers in late September with wins over Nepal and Hong Kong.Set to coach the team in the Asian Cup is Alen Stajcic, the former coach of the Australian women&#x27;s national football team. Stajcic steered the Matildas to the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cups, as well as the 2016 Rio Olympics.&quot;I knew that Australia would somehow fall in my group, in our group,&quot; said Stajcic. &quot;It&#x27;s an interesting tournament. It&#x27;s the first time it&#x27;s gone to 12 teams. It&#x27;s gonna present different challenges for different teams, and an extra match as well.&quot;&quot;The good part for now is, we now know who we play, and we can really focus on targeting that first match, and making sure we&#x27;re ready to go when we get to India,&quot; he added.The team is set to hold a training camp and player tryouts in Irvine, California from November 10 until January 15.The top two teams of each group as well as two of the three best third-placed teams will advance to the knockout quarterfinals. At stake in the continental event are five slots to the 2023 FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup, which Australia is co-hosting with New Zealand. The AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup is from January 20 to February 6.Stajcic is upbeat of the Filipinas&#x27; chances to secure one of the spots at stake.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/24/21/football-ph-malditas-secure-spot-in-afc-womens-asian-cup">READ: PH Malditas secure spot in AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/26/21/former-matildas-coach-takes-over-ph-womens-team">READ: Former Matildas coach takes over PH women&#x27;s team</a></li></ul>&quot;We&#x27;ve got a good team,&quot; he stressed. &quot;The last three or four years, and the last Asian Cup, they showed that they can compete with all the countries in the world.&quot;&quot;If we can keep improving and working hard in the next two, three months, I&#x27;m very confident that we can seal one of those berths in the World Cup.&quot;

The Philippines has been grouped with Indonesia, Thailand and Australia in the group stage of the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup in India.