The Filipinas football team is bound for South America next month for a pair of friendlies, the Philippine Football Federation said yesterday.
Apart from a couple of goodwill games with a soon-to-be-disclosed South American team, the PFF said plans are afoot for the Flipinas to work out with European squads as it revs up for the FIFA World Cup next year.
PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said during the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum that they are looking to get in touch with European squads in order to get themselves familiarized with the style of play for the competition.
The Filipinas have been sorted in Group A of the World Cup along with European powerhouses Norway and Switzerland and World Cup co-host New Zealand
“Our group has two Europeans so we have to adapt to the style of the Europeans. They’re big like Norway and Switzerland,” Araneta said.
Europe has the most number of slots given for the World Cup with 11 teams participating in the event.
This is also the continent that has been the hotbed for high quality matches with women’s leagues such as Liga F in Spain, Division 1 Féminine in France, FA Women’s National League and the Frauen-Bundesliga in Germany being destinations of top prospects of the sport.
The Norwegians will have 2018 Ballon d’Or Feminin holder Ada Hegerberg of Lyon while the Swiss will banner Ana-Maria Crnogorčević of FC Barcelona Femini.
“As you can see, we have played in New Zealand and had two matches with Costa Rica. Next month, they will have another pair of matches in South America,” PFF secretary general Edwin Gastanes said.
“I cannot inform you of the name of the country because we have stipulated that we will announce it jointly.”