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Football: Filipinas brace for challenge from Papua New Guinea

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The Philippine women" s="" national="" football="" team="" in="" training="" Australia.="" Photo="" courtesy="" of="" the="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/11/pff-wnt-aus-camp-file-1.jpeg"/><figcaption>The Philippine women&#x27;s national football team in training in Sydney, Australia. <em>Photo courtesy of the PFF.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The Philippine women&#x27;s national football team will try to end a historic year on a winning note when they take on Papua New Guinea in a pair of friendly matches this week at the Western Sydney Wanderers Park in Sydney, Australia. </p><p>Coming off a trip to South America last month where they played Chile twice, the Filipinas will now take on a Papua New Guinea side ranked two places above them by FIFA, at No. 51.</p><p>They meet on Sunday afternoon, before playing again on Thursday at the same venue.</p><p>The matches do not fall on an international window, and thus Coach Alen Stajcic only had three training sessions in the lead-up to the clash with the Oceania side. Papua New Guinea is preparing for the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup continental playoffs in February.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/07/22/football-filipinas-cap-big-year-with-australia-camp">Football: Filipinas cap big year with Australia camp</a></li></ul><p>The Filipinas have already qualified for the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup after making it to the semifinals of the AFC Women&#x27;s Asian Cup in India last January -- the highlight of a historic year for the up-and-coming side.</p><p>Their run continued in Vietnam in May, when they captured a bronze medal in the Southeast Asian Games, before delivering a first ever major football title for the country by ruling the AFF Women&#x27;s Championship in Manila last July.</p><p>Stajcic welcomes the challenge of facing another higher-ranked opponent.</p><p>&quot;These matches are critical for us to keep developing our patterns of play and principles, especially with the ball,&quot; he explained.</p><p>The friendly matches against Papua New Guinea will be the 29th and 30th for the Filipinas this year, capping off a busy campaign for the 53rd ranked team.</p><p>They have booked victories over regional powerhouses in Thailand and Vietnam, and beaten a European team in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They also picked up draws against Costa Rica and Chile while giving a good account of themselves in losses to Australia and South Korea.</p><p>The match against the Filipinas will mark the debut of new Papua New Guinea coach Spencer Prior, who coached Thailand to the 2016 AFF Women’s Championship crown and a silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games in 2017.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/03/22/world-cup-bound-pinays-have-busy-schedule-for-rest-of-2022">Football: World Cup-bound Pinays have busy schedule for rest of 2022</a></li></ul><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVE</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=2190982" 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>

The Philippine women's football team will try to end the year on a winning note when they take on Papua New Guinea in a pair of friendly matches this week.