Mark Torcaso hails the young Filipina team despite their failure to defend the MSIG Serenity Cup title

The Philippine Women’s National Football Team’s MSIG Serenity Cup title defense came to an early end following their 1-1 draw with Myanmar on Wednesday, August 13, thereby formally bowing out of the tournament.

Needing a win — and by multiple goals — to keep their semifinal hopes alive, the Philippines could only manage a single goal and a draw in their final Group B match. As a result, Myanmar and Australia’s U-23 squad advanced to the semifinals.

However, it should be noted that the Filipinas entered the tournament with a relatively weakened and inexperienced squad, as several players from their 2022 championship-winning team were unable to participate due to injury and the tournament being held outside the FIFA window.

Despite failing to defend their title, Philippine head coach Mark Torcaso hailed the effort put in by his young team, stating that the entire country would be proud of them.

“We obviously came into this competition with some younger players, some inexperienced players. And in the end, one of those young players actually scored a goal for us. So this was a really good learning curve for all of us — our team, our coaches — to see some of our younger players play,” Torcaso said in the post-match press conference.

#WATCH: Despite the Filipinas being dethroned in the #SerenityCup, coach Mark Torcaso keeps his eyes on the long game — gearing up for the #SEAGames2025 and #WAC2026 🇵🇭⚽

📹 @ickodeg /Tiebreaker Times#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/BGQ0cw6mn6#LabanFilipinas pic.twitter.com/F8FeYsBJui

— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) August 13, 2025

“I’m extremely proud of every one of those girls, and I know that our entire country will be proud of them. We had a number of them score goals, and we had a number of them play a lot of minutes. As a head coach for the national team, it’s very important for me to see that. It helps me make good decisions for these players ahead of the Asian Cup next year,” he added.

In the absence of senior players, the likes of 17-year-old Nina Mathelus and 16-year-old Tea Pidding stepped up. Mathelus scored the equalizer against Myanmar, while Pidding made her debut against Australia.

Following their exit from the MSIG Serenity Cup, the Filipinas and Torcaso will now shift their focus to the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in December in Bangkok, Thailand, followed by the 2025 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in March. The Filipinas have been drawn into Group A, alongside hosts Australia, Korea Republic, and Iran.

“We are lucky as a country because we have the SEA Games to play. A lot of the other Asian countries don’t have that opportunity to prepare for the Asian Cup. We’re going to use the SEA Games and maximize that — try to play five games there. We’ll have all our national players available, so we’re really looking forward to playing in that really tough competition,” Torcaso concluded.

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