Wake Forest Athletics
Marisa Park Philippines National Team Blog: Entry 2
6/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
June 12, 2013
Former Wake Forest women's soccer player Marisa Park recently played with the Philippines National Team in the AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers in Bangladesh. The squad, commonly known as the Malditas, finished second in its group. Marisa will be periodically writing about her experience with the Philippines team for WakeForestSports.com
By Marisa Park, Wake Forest Women's Soccer ('13)
Despite not winning the group in Bangladesh, the trip was a huge learning experience for the team. And, I think if a couple of calls went our way, the Thailand game (a 1-0 loss) could have ended very differently. However, with our decisive wins against Iran and Bangladesh and our painfully close game with Thailand, the Malditas have started to make a name for themselves.
The game against Thailand was my first international cap. Needless to say, I was very nervous. The Thailand fans brought drums and horns, and the sounds reverberated throughout the entire stadium. I've never experienced something quite like that. I could barely hear my own thoughts. But, to my surprise, there were so many Filipino fans at the game, as well. Seeing so many fans in Bangladesh was a true motivation.
In the first half, we were caught on our heels. I think we were initially overwhelmed by Thailand's intimidating reputation. However, in the second half, we really attacked, and were very unlucky not to convert one of our many chances.
Coming off our loss against Thailand, we were very motivated to beat Bangladesh. We really found our stride and were able to connect passes and find the back of the net.
In my first blog entry I spoke of trying to get the Philippines excited about women's soccer. It wasn't until I was back in the Philippines that I realized the impact we made. I was with 2 of my teammates, in our street clothes and we were eating lunch. I was surprised when a father and two girls nervously approached us and asked if we were part of the Malditas. They took pictures with us and talked about how they followed the team throughout the tournament. The girls even spoke of their aspirations to become a Maldita some day.
So, despite not winning out the group in Bangladesh, our team had accomplished another goal. We were attracting fans throughout the Philippines, even if it was just one girl at a time.
