Yesterday, the Philippines women’s soccer team (also known as Malditas, which is confusingly an anagram of Matlidas, the nickname of the Australian national team) qualified for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup after beating Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup. The match went to penalties and Sarina Bolden, in only her 12th cap for the national team, scored the winning penalty. This is the first time that the Philippines has qualified for any FIFA World Cup and I can’t wait to see how they do next year in Australia and New Zealand.
For more on the team, here are some cool facts about them and some info on their ties to the US (for example, Sarina Bolden was born in California)