For the first time ever, Philippine football will be showcased on the global stage on Friday when the Filipinas step onto the pitch at the Forsyth Barr Stadium against Switzerland.

It promises to be an emotional moment for the Philippine women's national football team, which has experienced a rapid rise in the past two years -- a rise that will culminate in their first-ever participation in the FIFA Women's World Cup.

After narrowly missing out from qualifying to the 2019 edition of the global showcase, the Filipinas made sure that another opportunity would not elude them. They reached the semifinals of the AFF Women's Asian Cup in February 2022 in cardiac fashion -- defeating Chinese Taipei in a penalty shootout, in the process clinching their ticket to the Women's World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.

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What followed was a year for the ages. Though they lost to South Korea in the semis of the Women's Asian Cup, the Filipinas went on to win a breakthrough bronze medal in the Southeast Asian Games, then lifted their first-ever major trophy -- the AFF Women's Championship -- on home soil in July. They became one of the most well-traveled teams in women's football, with camps in Europe and South America, playing friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, and New Zealand.

All roads have led the team to Dunedin, New Zealand, where they will play world No. 20 Switzerland in their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup match. The Filipinas are part of Group A along with European powerhouse Norway and co-host New Zealand.

"I'm really proud of everyone for their collective effort," Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic said recently. "Now, it's time to go to the biggest women's sporting event in the world, and try to do the best that we can."

"It really is a magical moment for the country, and we hope that everyone is proud of the fight that we're going to show in those games," he added.

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PROJECTIONS

By most projections, the Filipinas are not expected to get out of their group, even if they did not draw any teams in the Top 10 of the FIFA rankings. Norway is the highest-ranked team in the group, at No. 12, while New Zealand is ranked 26th. The Filipinas will enter the World Cup ranked No. 46, their highest-ever.

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In its preview of Group A, Agence France-Presse said the Filipinas "will hope to cause a surprise." Defector flat out said that a "modest goal" for the Filipinas is to not "get blown out," akin to how Thailand suffered a 13-0 demolition against the United States in 2019. The Guardian diplomatically noted that it will "not be easy for the Filipinas to get out of the group."

The Filipinas themselves are well aware of where they stand in their group, and they know that they are massive underdogs in the World Cup.

But the team is not lacking in confidence.

"Well, we are definitely a rookie team in terms of playing in our first World Cup," skipper Tahnai Annis told FIFA. "But this group has been around for a good amount of time. We have a core group of veterans who have been leading the way."

"And then we've been picking up new players along the way who are ready and preparing with us," she added. "We have a good combination of experienced players, new players, young talent, older talent... I think we have a good, diverse mixture of experience and youth."

"We know that any World Cup game is going to be anyone's biggest game. And we also all know that on any given day, any team can show up and beat another team."

Stajcic named his final 23-player roster on July 9. Of the 23, 15 were part of the squad that competed in the Women's Asian Cup in 2022. The Australian coach also called up Angie Beard, a Filipina-Australian defender who is expected to make an immediate impact for the team.

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The team spent the past month in Sydney, Australia, in an intensive training camp. Last Monday, they competed in a closed-door, unofficial friendly with world No. 3 Sweden, falling 5-1.

Earlier in the year, the Filipinas played in Europe in the Pinatar Cup, gaining respectable results against Wales (0-1) and Scotland (1-2) before a blowout loss to Iceland (0-5).

They also swept their group in the first round of the AFC Olympic qualifiers, before falling short of the podium in the 32nd SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

READINESS

Despite the mixed bag of results heading into the World Cup, the Filipinas believe that they are ready for the global stage, and they are determined to prove that they belong at that level.

Co-captain Hali Long, the team's most-capped member with 74 appearances, has often spoken about their mantra of "winning the moment." This mentality will be crucial once they step on the pitch against Switzerland.

"It's all about the little details now," she said recently. "We have done all of our fine tuning but it's finally time to prove and show what we are made of."

She also told Preen.ph that they have "absolutely nothing at all to lose heading into the World Cup and that can make us nearly invincible."

Another defender, Reina Bonta, told FIFA that they will enter with a winning mindset as well, as the team wants to prove that they are not simply "happy to be here."

"We're here to win. Every game we're here to win. We're approaching it with a champion mentality," said the 24-year-old Bonta, who plays club football for Santos in Brazil. "We're focused on one game at a time – we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, we want to stay humble."

"I think it's important for debutantes like ourselves to approach the tournament with the same mentality as countries who have been here for years. The target is to win. I'm very confident in our coaching staff and our preparations," she added.

And Annis, the midfielder who is also the team's set-piece specialist, is highlighting that age-old Filipino sports adage: bilog ang bola.

"All of these teams – Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand – are great on paper and have historically done well and have so much experience," Annis said of their group stage opponents. "So, we know what we're up against."

"But the ball could bounce any way on any different day. We have to do everything we can to prepare so we can put our best foot forward when that day comes," she added.

The Filipinas play host New Zealand on July 25 in Wellington, before traveling back to Auckland for the duel with Norway on July 30 to wrap up the group stage.

THE FUTURE

Having made history multiple times over for the country, the Filipinas are also keeping an eye on the future of their sport. The great hope for the team is that they will become trailblazers, and that this first appearance in the Women's World Cup will not be the last.

Striker Sarina Bolden, one of the players to watch for the team in the World Cup, recently told FIFA that their qualification to the World Cup "brings awareness for women's soccer" in the country as well as globally.

It brings more eyes to a team that has rarely been in the spotlight, and Bolden can only hope that the attention will grow as they compete at the highest level.

"It's about the traction. I know being in the World Cup is going to bring a lot of awareness. I hope the younger kids and people of all ages want to get more involved in soccer and us being on that stage is going to really help," she said.

Long, the Filipinas co-captain, recently told AFP that women's football -- and football in general -- is "not the most popular sport here" in the Philippines, falling behind basketball, volleyball, and boxing. But this World Cup, where they hope to show that they can keep in step with the best, may be the start of a shift.

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"We don't want this to be a one-time showing," Long said in March, during the FIFA Women's World Cup Trophy Tour in Manila.

"We did all the hard work for the past...myself six to seven years, and all the players and coaches who were there before, it's all for this kind of moment. (We have to) keep paving the way… it's like a culmination of efforts we brought for Philippine women's football."

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