By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – For decades, women’s football in the Southeast Asian Games was ruled by two powers. Vietnam and Thailand took turns lifting the trophy, leaving little room for anyone else at the top. But, that long-standing order finally changed.
The Philippine women’s national football team, known as the Filipinas, completed a breakthrough campaign at the 33rd SEA Games by emerging as the tournament’s new champion at the Chonburi Daikin Stadium.
The Filipinas outlasted eight-time champion Vietnam in a tense final that ended scoreless after regulation and extra time before being decided on penalties.
“I’m so proud of this team, so proud to be a Filipino and playing for our country,” said goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel, who played a key role in the shootout.
“People are doubting us, saying we don’t belong here. But we belong in this conversation, we belong at the top and we’re just continuing to prove ourselves again and again and we want to be regulars at the top,” she added.
With the victory, the Philippines became only the third nation to win the SEA Games women’s football title, breaking the duopoly held by Vietnam and Thailand since the tournament’s inception.
The gold medal run capped a steady rise for the Filipinas, whose recent achievements include winning the ASEAN Women’s Championship, claiming a bronze medal in the previous SEA Games, and recording a landmark upset at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Each step laid the foundation for their strongest showing yet in regional competition.
The journey in Chonburi was far from smooth. The Filipinas opened their campaign with a 2–1 loss to Myanmar, immediately placing their title hopes under pressure. They responded with composure, defeating Vietnam, 1–0, and overwhelming Malaysia, 6–0, to secure a place in the semifinals.
Against host Thailand in the semifinals, the Filipinas showed resilience under hostile conditions, grinding out a 1–1 draw over 120 minutes before prevailing in a penalty shootout, 4–2, to reach the final for the first time.
The championship match followed a similar script. Locked in a scoreless battle with Vietnam, the Filipinas once again relied on their nerve and discipline from the penalty spot. Jaclyn Sawicki converted the go-ahead kick, while McDaniel produced the decisive save to seal the title.
Team captain Hali Long said the team never wavered in its belief despite early setbacks in the tournament.
“We never wanted to end on a loss, we’re going to win gold or we’re going to win bronze. We gave ourselves no choice so the gold was ours for the taking,” Long said.
“We didn’t lose our first game to lose in the end. We dug out of the hole we put ourselves in and we fought and we crawled and we did everything we could in our power to get to the semifinals, to get finals and put it away. As soon as we went to PKs I knew it was ours,” she added.
By the final whistle, the Filipinas had done more than win a medal. They had reshaped the landscape of Southeast Asian women’s football and announced that the Philippines now belongs among the region’s elite./PN
