Filipinas suffer 1-5 setback against power house Sweden
THE FILIPINAS absorbed a 1-5 defeat from world power Sweden in an unofficial friendly yesterday in Wellington ahead of their debut in the FIFA Women’s World Cup (WC).
Per a report by the Swedish Football Association on its website, forward Stina Blackstenius fired a hat-trick to lead the world No. 3 side to victory in the closed-door game played in the 3×30 format.
Joining Ms. Blackstenius, who plays for Arsenal in the English Women’s Super League, in the score sheet were Fridolina Rolfö and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.
Further details on the tuneup, including the lone Filipina scorer, weren’t made available at presstime. Philippine coach Alen Stajcic preferred to “keep everything under wraps,” according to the team.
The Filipinas viewed the tuneup against the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalists as a good opportunity to get a feel of the high-level competition that awaits in the WC beginning Friday.
Prior to the match, veteran Quinley Quezada described it as a “great learning experience” and a chance to “see how the team does against a good opposition.”
From Wellington, the Filipinas will return to their base camp in Auckland to apply their learning and continue the final preparations for their maiden game against Switzerland in Dunedin. — Olmin Leyba
