Philippines' women seal historic qualification for 2023 FIFA World Cup
The Philippines will play at their first-ever football World Cup, male or female, after the women's team overcame Chinese Taipei to make the semi-final of the AFC Asian Cup.
Football
History was in the air on Monday (31 January) as the Philippine women's football team secured the nation's first-ever appearance at a FIFA World Cup.
It all happened at the 2022 AFC Asian Cup in Pune, India, where the Philippines claimed a penalty shootout cliff-hanger against Chinese Taipei, winning 4-3 after a 1-1 draw.
Quinley Quezada opened the scoring in the 49th minute for the 'Malditas' before Taipei’s Zhou Li-Ping levelled things up in the 83rd minute.
The stars of the shootout were Sarina Bolden, who slotted the winning penalty, and goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel who not only saved two, but also scored one of the winning spot kicks.
The Filipinas will now face South Korea in the semi-final for a shot at a first-ever final on Thursday 3 February.
But the much bigger prize was making safe spot in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, set to be held in Australia and New Zealand in July and August.
It's the latest piece of amazing news for women's sport in the country following a summer of celebration after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020.
Diaz has been supporting the football team too, retweeting information about the historic quarterfinal before the match, and this afterwards:
They now have a maiden World Cup appearance to look forward to after another giant stride for women's sport in the country.
You can relive Hidilyn Diaz' historic gold-medal performance at Tokyo 2020 right here.