The national women’s football team seeks to polish its passing game as it heads for its rematch with Costa Rica in a friendly series at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose.
Filipinas head coach Alen Stajcic said while defense was the key in their 1-1 draw in the first match with the Las Ticas, their ball movement is something they have to work on if they want to shock the 35th best football team in the world.
He said he was proud of what they showed in their first encounter, but they still have to double their effort if they want to pull off a stunner.
“Ninety minutes of our courage, hard work and a lot of resilience. So defensively, I thought we were very good with our limited possession in that game,” Stajcic, whose wards are playing the Costa Ricans in their second friendly duel at press time, said.
“However, our ability to kick and pass the ball was not good enough tonight and we really have to work on that. We have to improve our technique in our first touch and passing if we are going to compete with good teams like this.”
After Priscilla Chinchilla scored in the 57th minute, it looked like the Filipinas were heading for another defeat. But Filipino-French midfielder Katrina Guillou struck hard and scored a goal in the 93rd minute to force a draw.
All in all, the Filipinas had 206 passes against Las Ticas, who passed the ball 590 times.
Ball possession was also in favor of Costa Rica as it registered a 74 percent possession rating in comparison to the Philippines’ 26 percent possession.
With the high possession rate, the Las Ticas had 23 attempts to score a goal while the Filipinas only had six attempts in the entire game.
For Guillou, they’re making the most of playing against Las Ticas and are soaking in every chance they have as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup draws closer.