Tue, 06 May, 2025
the-afc.com
Hohhot: Set to make their tournament debut, the Philippines arguably could not have asked for tougher opening opponents than Iran as both prepare to face off in their AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup ™ China 2025 Group B tie on Wednesday.
The reigning champions have won all of their 10 matches in the competition’s history and will be confident of adding a third crown. Having led them to glory in the inaugural 2015 edition, Foruzan Solymani returns to helm a side with plenty of experience, with five players set to appear in their third tournament.
One of them is Sara Shirbeigi, who is the competition’s all-time top-scorer with 14 goals, who is optimistic about recovering from an injury setback to play her part.
“I hope we can become champions of Asia for the third consecutive time,” she said. “All our goals and efforts will be focused on this. However, as you know, achieving this is challenging since teams like Japan and Thailand are strong competitors. Nonetheless, we are Iran.
“Our team still has weaknesses that we worked on during the recent SAT Futsal Championship in Thailand and I hope that by addressing these issues, we can lift the championship trophy for the third time and make our nation proud.”
The Philippines will certainly aim to give the Central Asians a stiff test as they continue to prepare for the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 in November, which they have automatically qualified for as hosts.
Led by Spanish head coach Rafael Rodriguez, the FILIPINA5 — recently unveiled as the team’s new moniker — impressed in the Qualifiers against higher-ranked opponents to seal their first-ever berth in the Finals.
While Rodriguez believes preparations have gone well, he acknowledged that Iran will pose a tough challenge, especially with key striker Katrina Guillou — scorer of four of their 10 Qualifiers goals — sidelined.
“It’s a big challenge for us – they’re the best team in Asia,” said Rodriguez. “We’re going to learn a lot from that match. We know it will be very difficult, but we’re approaching it with great enthusiasm.
“We have tried to train as much as possible in the Philippines over the past month, although players have been joining gradually over the last few weeks. We played two friendly matches in the Philippines, and the rest of our preparation took place in China.
“I don’t think there’s any one key player but it’s true that Katrina, who couldn’t be with us, brought a lot of experience. She’s also a player with a knack for scoring goals.”
While the Philippines played their first women’s futsal national team match in 2005, the side has only been revived in recent years and Rodriguez, in looking at the big picture, feels that being awarded hosting rights to the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup will further boost their developmental efforts.
“I believe we’re making progress in many areas,” he said. “We want to build a solid team, with a strong mentality and a clear identity. We’re improving both individually and collectively. We need to keep consolidating every step we take.”
IR Iran v Philippines
Venue: Hohhot Sports Centre (Hohhot)
Kick-off: Wednesday, 05:00 (UTC+3)