PHL teams gets grouped with Jordan in Asian qualifiers

The Philippine Women’s National Team are in Group A of the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers on April 3 to 12 in Tajikistan.

The Malditas is grouped with host Tajikistan, Bahrain, Iraq, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan, which already owns a spot in the final leg of the tournament as hosts.

The Malditas’ first assignment is against UAE on April 3; Iraq on April 5, Tajikistan on April 7, Bahrain on April 10 and Jordan on April 12.

The Malditas had four friendlies last year and went 1-2. The squad lost to Thailand and Vietnam both by an identical 4-0 margin and won against Singapore, 2-0.

Jordan is the highest ranked in the group at 52nd, followed by the Philippines at 69th, Bahrain is 75th and UAE is 75th. Both Iraq and Tajikistan are not rated in the world.

The Malditas are holding a series of tryouts for national team hopefuls according to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) website. The tryouts as of now are just for the NCR area on Feb. 22, 24 and 28 at the McKinley Stadium.

There will also be Manila tryouts for overseas players on March 7 to 9.

The Women’s national team is mentored by head coach Letecia Bautista along with assistant coaches Freddie Estacion, Josephine Loren and Anthony Albao./