New Philippines coach Alen Stajcic would have every reason to be out for revenge when his Philippines side face Australia on Match Day Two of the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup, such was the way his five-year reign as Matildas coach came to an abrupt end back in 2019.
With just months to go before the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and with the Matildas having emerged as one of the world’s best teams headlined by global superstars such as Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter, Stajcic was unceremoniously shown the door in a long-running saga that continues to split opinion in his homeland.
As fate would have it, the two sides were drawn in Group B of this year’s tournament in a match that will draw plenty of attention, particularly in Australia, where the ‘Stajcic vs Australia’ narrative will be thrown into overdrive ahead of the clash at the Mumbai Football Arena on 24 January.
But according to the man himself, speaking to The Asian Game from the Philippines training camp in Los Angeles, this match against Australia is ‘just another game’ as they look to make history and qualify for their first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“No, not at all,” Stajcic said when asked if the match against the Matildas carried any extra significance.
“For me, every game and every moment, every goal is critical. And we really are fighting to get through the group and get through to that quarter final stage.
“So the game against Australia, for me just takes on the significance within the tournament and the Philippines, not for Australia, you know. I’m not really connecting my history and my ego to that match at all, I think that would be doing everyone here in this team a disservice, I’ve really got to remove myself from that history.”
He added: “I’ve spent ten, twelve, fifteen years with some of those players. So, you know, obviously, we know each other very well and there’s long, long relationships there that have been there for a long time. So, you know, that’s not going to be impacted by the game.
“But, you know, from this point of view, we’re working for the Philippines and it’s a massive honor to be appointed by another country.
“So, I’m approaching that game as professionally as we can, and approaching it in the manner that we need to, to ensure that we get one of those quarter final berths and progress through to the next stage.”
Before they face Australia, however, they open their campaign this Friday against Thailand – a side they met at the last Asian Cup in Jordan in 2018. While that resulted in a heavy defeat, Stajcic is confident his side has improved enough to make this week’s clash more competitive.
“Thailand for me, below the the big four that are in the tournament in Korea, Japan, China and Australia, are the next cab in the rank in terms the recent history, in terms of the playing experience within the group,” he said.
“They’ve been to the last two World Cups. They’ve been very competitive in most matches, apart from that one blowout against USA in the World Cup, they’ve been very competitive against big countries for a long time now.
“So look, they’re they’re a big challenge for us and we’ve never beaten them as a country. I watched the last time Philippines played Thailand at the Asian Cup and, and I think it was three or four nil to Thailand, or maybe three or four one, but there wasn’t that much in the game. I thought Thailand were the better team, but not by much.
“So, you know, in those intervening four years, if we’ve improved a little bit, we can certainly bridge that gap and make that a massive game.
“But to say I’m putting more importance on that game versus the Australia game or the Indonesia game, I’ve never taken that principle in any job. Every game is massively important. Every goal is massively important, and we’ll be treating every game with the same level of importance.”
While he has been in charge for just a few short months, being able to spend the past two months in camp has given Stajcic invaluable time to prepare the team for the challenge ahead, and the 48-year-old couldn’t be happier with the commitment of his players so far.
“I think the thing that’s impressed me the most is just their willingness to come and work hard for each other and learn,” he said.
“They really are sponges in terms of wanting to take on as much information as they can, again, whether that’s during training session, or for video sessions, or just chatting off to the side, they’re probably the most, I don’t even know the word, they’re probably just the hungriest to want to learn and get better and improve.
“They know that they’ve got a long way to go to become a really competitive nation against the big superpowers of Asia, but there is a real hunger there and desire to bridge that gap, and the unity within the group as well, it’s just really impressed me
He added: “So, when you put those two factors together, it does give you a lot of hope and promise for future and know that there’s a lot of potential in this in this group to grow over not only the next two, three weeks in the Asian Cup, but I think the next two, three years, four years and five years even beyond that, I really think that this team can can really rocket up the rankings.
“These players really haven’t haven’t had the opportunities that players from other countries have (had), particularly all those countries in the top ten, and possibly even the top 20 and 30 in the world.
“So now that they have been given a dose of the resources, the capacity to train every day, a renewed level of professionalism that they’ve all had to undertake. I think they’ve really grasped it with both hands and, and seeing how much they really love learning about the game playing the game and wanting to better themselves.”
It’s that thirst to learn and get better that has Stajcic convinced his side can seal an historic berth at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, which would give him a chance to coach at a World Cup on home soil.
“I think in this tournament, it’s obviously the first time, I think ever, but definitely in a long time that the Asian Cup expands to 12 teams and, and three groups of four,” the former Matildas coach said.
“We haven’t had that format in my lifetime, as long as I’ve been involved in the last 20 odd years.
“That brings a lot of different dynamics to the tournament, you know, splitting up the superpowers. North Korea not being in a tournament adds another dynamic. Australia being host along with New Zealand (for 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup) brings in another dynamic.
He added: “So there’s many new things that make it interesting for every country, not just for us. The fact that the World Cup has been expanded as well, and Asia have five spots on top of on top of Australia’s qualification. And the other new thing is the other two inter-confederation playoffs that are happening.
“So, so many different elements that that make this tournament exciting for everyone. But particularly for countries like us and any other countries that you mentioned, Thailand and Indonesia. And I’m sure Vietnam and Myanmar and Iran and Taipei and India put themselves in that same bracket, where there’s a massive opportunity to qualify for the World Cup, and really grow the games back in their own countries.
“We definitely put ourselves in that bracket, and that’s certainly been the objective from day one that we want to snag one of those World Cup spots and (we’re) doing everything we possibly can, you know, living away from home basically for three months to try and achieve that goal.”
The Philippines begin their campaign with a match against fellow Southeast Asian side Thailand at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai on 21 January. Click here to see where you can watch the game in your territory.
Photo: Philippines Football Federation
Listen to our interview with Alen Stajcic and a full preview of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Episode 76 of The Asian Game podcast
