'Malditas' confident in Asean women's soccer

MANILA, Philippines - With practically a revamped squad featuring new and youthful players, the Malditas, the moniker of the national women squad, are optimistic about their chances in the Asean women’s football tournament set Oct. 16-25 in Vientiane, Laos.

“If all things go according to plan, we aim to be there on Oct. 25,” said national coach Ernie Nierras, referring to the date of the championship match, in yesterday’s PSA forum at the Shakey’s UN Avenue branch in Manila.

Nierras was joined in the session backed by Shakey’s, Smart, Pagcor and Outlast Battery by Fil-Am Heather Cooke, Fil-German Kristina Kuter, Belai Fernando and Sam Nierras, the daughter of the national coach who has been a national team mainstay since 2004.

He said that team is bracketed in Group B together with top seed Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia, while Group A is composed of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Laos. The Filipina booters open their campaign in the tournament on Oct. 17 against Myanmar.

“We finished sixth out of eight teams the last time we competed in this tournament in 2009, but with the players we have now, I’m optimistic we can do better this time around,” the coach said.

A 5-foot-8 defender who has been getting raves from the coaching for her play, Cooke, 22, who played for Loyola Maryland in the NCAA Division 1, said she was delighted to make her national team debut with the Malditas.

“It’s a great privilege for me to play for the country of my mom,” said Cooke, whose mother hails from Iloilo. “I hope that I can contribute to this team.”

The bespectacled Kuter, whose mother is a native of Kabangkalan, Negros Occidental, arrived late Sunday night and saw practice for the first time with the Malditas early yesterday morning, and immediately impressed Nierras with her playing ability.

“All I heard was ‘boom, boom, boom’ in practice before we got here,” noted Nierras of the 22-year-old midfielder’s powerful shots during the workout of the bespectacled Fortuna Cologne stalwart.

The 22-year-old Nierras, a mainstay of the Ateneo women’s varsity squad, said the recent additions to the squad made her also hopeful of the side’s participation in the Asean tourney.

The nationals are scheduled to leave on Oct. 13 for the Laotian capital, a day before the team managers’ meeting in the eight-nation tournament, the elder Nierras said.