Filipinas face NWSL club San Diego Wave to kickstart World Cup preparation

June 14 ------ The Filipinas are set for a competitive start to their preparations for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil as they head to California for a training camp and friendlies early next month.

The Philippine Football Federation announced that the Philippine women’s national football team will have a training camp in the US highlighted by friendlies against San Diego-based clubs. The World Cup-bound Filipinas face their stiffest challenge against the San Diego Wave FC on June 4.

San Diego competes in the National Women’s Soccer League, the top-flight women’s football competition in the US. The team once featured US Women’s National Team great Alex Morgan until she retired in 2024. Current players for San Diego Wave include Nya Harrison, a Filipino-American being lobbied to join the Filipinas as a naturalized player. She has been previously called up for a training camp in Manila.

Key players include USWNT mainstay Catarina Macario, Kennedy Wesley, and France’s Kenza Dali. Also on the roster are Canada’s Adriana Leon, and Brazil’s Ludmila. “Playing the powerhouse San Diego Wave is a great opportunity for a lot of our players who are playing against a top-level NWSL club,” said head coach Mark Torcaso. “It gives them an opportunity to test themselves against one of the best clubs in the USA, but also the potential of other people seeing them in this type of game and the opportunity that this may provide them.”

The Filipinas will also play against NISA side Albion San Diego on June 9, to further build the team’s readiness ahead of their second World Cup campaign. The PFF named a 30-woman roster headed to San Diego for the camp led by mainstays Olivia MCDaniel, Hali Long, Meryll Serrano, Jaclyn Sawicki, Sofia Wunsch, Angie Beard, Jessika Cowart, Chandler McDaniel, Katrina Guillou, Mallie Ramirez, and Alexa Pino.

Making a return as well to national team duties is futsal standout Dionesa Tolentin, and World Cup player Reina Bonta. Before the friendlies, the team is also set for a talent identification camp to further vitalize the national team pool — where they will screen around 50 players. The ID camp will feature both senior and U20 players for a robust group of talents.

The efforts, according to the PFF, are being done to make sure that the Filipinas will be battle-ready once they set foot in Brazil in 2027. “PFF is committed not just to bringing the Filipinas to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, but to sending them there ready to win games and bring joy to our kababayans — and that means giving Coach Torcaso and this team every resource they need to prepare at the highest possible level,” said PFF President John Gutierrez. “The San Diego camp is exactly the kind of bold, purposeful preparation this team deserves.”

Source: onesports.ph