The women’s national football team has found a home atop the country’s biggest mall.
The Filipinas inaugurated the Mall of Asia Football Field with an intra-squad game a few days ago as part of its ongoing preparations for several international campaigns and were impressed by how modern and how well it conforms to international standards.
But more than the view, PWNT coach Mark Torcaso said the facility is a welcome addition to what has been a very limited number of football pitches in the city.
As of now, only the Rizal Memorial Stadium can qualify as top grade field for training, but it is currently closed as its artificial turf, like the one at the MOA, is being refurbished.
“I’ve never played a football game on a roof before,” said Torcaso. “I think the really exciting part is that we have a facility for our girls to be training and playing on.”
“Respectful to Rizal (Memorial), the surface wasn’t always the best. Now that’s refurbished as well, so it’s great that we’ve got two really good facilities.”
In the past, the Philippine team has been holding their training during the FIFA international window overseas, but with the SM facility, Torcaso said they plan to hold more camps in Manila and hopefully, identify more players especially the ones based in the Philippines.
“I know that’s been a problem in the past, to train somewhere in the Philippines. Now that we’ve got a nice little home that we can utilize, the plan would be to be here as often as we can,” said Torcaso.
