Philippines, united nations of a team eyes own Cinderella story

Banking on diaspora and coach Stajcic, the Women's World Cup debutants look to make the round of 16

- Dhiman Sarkar

Two games into the World Cup, the Philippines story that began on a January evening behind closed doors in Pune continues with Olivia Davies-McDaniel and Sarina Bolden still at its front and centre. And given that the debutants are "dreaming of creating our own Cinderella story", in the words of team manager Jefferson Chang, they may not be done yet.

Bolden thinks they can survive the group stage if they "don't do anything crazy different". On three points after two games, a win will ensure that for Philippines, a draw could too. So, bring on former world champions Norway for whom this is a must-win and who will miss prolific striker Ada Hegerberg due to injury.

Ninetee months to Sunday when Philippines play their final game in group A, Davies-McDaniel stood between Chinese Taipei's Su Sin-Yin's penalty and a World Cup berth. She saved and then converted her kick to force the tie-breaker into sudden death. Another save, off Zhou Li-Ping who had scored with a stunning effort from range to make it 1-1 and take the quarter-final into extra-time, and now Philippines, having trailed in the tie-breaker, were one shot from a semi-final berth in the 2022 Women's Asian Cup. That also meant a berth among 32 in the ninth World Cup. Up stepped Bolden and converted.