MANILA – An Ilonggo football coach is hoping to see home-grown booters play for the national women’s football team in international competitions or in FIFA Women’s World Cup in the near future.
Luke Trasporto, a member of the Philippine Women’s Football Association, said that while he has nothing against Filipino-foreign players in the current Filipinas roster, it will still be a welcome sight for a homegrown Filipina player to make the team.
“We welcome our heritage players. We have nothing against them and we love them, each of the 23 players,” Trasporto told Panay News. “Pero it would be great to see home-grown Filipinos so we can have a good balance in the mixture of the team.”
“Hopefully, maiangat natin ang level of competitiveness ng aton mga players, and those abroad-based na mag-improve pa gid because it’s a long journey,” added the Iloilo City native.
“The Filipinas are making waves sa women’s World Cup. If you are a young player, just aim high, put in the work and keep the faith and take it one game at a time,” he said. “Even if you don’t reach the highest of highs, you will reach far as long as you put in the work.”
Trasporto was one of the several Filipinos at the Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand to witness the Filipinas’ historic 1-0 win over New Zealand in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup last Tuesday courtesy of the connection of Sarina Bolden.
“I was closer to the center (of action) so I saw the goal of Sarina. I was actually very anxious sa last few minutes, but when the final whistle was blown, it was madness at the venue as the Filipino fans erupt in joy,” Trasporto said.
“To put things into perspective, ang context niya sa Philippine football ay hindi tayo football country, we are a country dominated by other sports so to beat the host at their home in front of their fans, it’s priceless,” he added.
Trasporto, however, said he was not surprised that the Alen Stajcic-mentored Filipinas was able to score a win in the world stage and he hopes that the team will score another upset against Norway on Sunday afternoon to reach the round-of-16 of the competition.
“I did expect our team to win one game, in fact I expect them to be part of the Top 2 sa Group A and qualify to the round-of-16,” Trasporto said. “The goal now is to believe, support and to rally behind the Philippine women’s team sa kanilang match sa July 30.”
Seeing the Filipinas in the FIFA World Cup first hand, Trasporto said that he was inspired to serve as the catalyst on the growth of women’s football in his hometown as well as in the entire country.
“As an Ilonggo gid, I feel inspired to educate more Filipinos, especially Ilonggos, about football so that they can grow the sports, specifically the women’s game, to step up our game gid,” Trasporto said.
“As a young coach, the advice and learnings I got here is if you have a certain group of dedicated people who have the same goal, a good coaching staff, a good team, great chemistry on and off the pitch, anything is possible,” he added.
“It is about chemistry, not specifically building an all-star team. The goal here is to practice, practice, practice, so that your players can execute what the coach wants them to accomplish. We have a good start and hopefully we see more Filipinas aspire to be the future part of the team,” he further said./PN
