The Philippines recruited a World Cup team. They hope their underdog run will inspire more

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Tears began to trickle down Hali Long’s cheeks as her mind raced back in time, to the start of a magical journey. It began years ago with the Women’s World Cup impossibly distant. It concluded here at Eden Park on Sunday in front of 30,000 screaming Filipino fans and likely millions more watching on TV. They gathered at malls in Manila, or at homes in Missouri, to watch the Philippines women’s national team. They gathered outside the team’s hotel hours before kickoff, then saluted players even after a 6-0 loss to Norway, which eliminated the Filipinas from the 2023 World Cup.

The loss saddened them, but didn’t sap their spirit. Long, their captain, sank to her knees, and bowed her head, and cried — “but it was happy tears, proud tears,” she said.

Because she recalled the days when support for the team was scarce, when training gear and sometimes even soccer balls were non-existent.

She recalled the women who’d built the Philippines national team into what it was, so that she and dozens of other foreign-born recruits could build it into what it now is.

That’s when emotion welled inside Long, the Missouri-born daughter of a Filipina mother. Before it could choke her, she rattled off names of former players and coaches. She gushed about Inna Palacios, “my best friend, my partner, my captain,” a reserve goalkeeper left off the World Cup roster, one of many homegrown players displaced by Filipino Americans. She spoke about Camille Rodriguez, and Patrice Impelido, and Belay Fernando, and Buda Bautista, and others.

“They've all been a part of this journey,” Long said. She and 21 other “heritage players” got to experience the thrill of the nation’s first World Cup, but as they savored its final moments, they made a concerted effort to center the women who came before them and the girls who’ll come next.

“It really is all for them,” Long said, and then she stepped back to collect herself, the emotion overwhelming.

“Wow. Sorry,” she muttered, with streaks gleaming off both cheeks. “It just means a lot.”

She’d joined the national team around 2016 and dove head-first into Filipino culture. She moved to Manila and obtained dual citizenship. She overcame injuries to dedicate massive chunks of her life to Filipino soccer. By 2019, the national anthem would bring those tears to her eyes. “It's the pride and honor you have to represent your country anywhere,” Long said.

Some countrymen were skeptical. The roster began to fill with players who, to some, didn’t look or sound Pinay. At the very least, they’d grown up disconnected from the land their family calls home.

The national team, though, allowed them to reconnect. Many followed Long’s lead, and made it their mission to serve the country however they could. They dreamed of qualifying for a World Cup, and capturing the imagination of a basketball-crazed nation. And this month, that’s exactly what they did. Manila’s malls — which are less shopping centers, more so gathering places — filled for watch parties. They exploded when Sarina Bolden scored the nation’s first-ever World Cup goal and clinched a stunning 1-0 win over New Zealand.

“That's ultimately why we play,” Bolden said Sunday. “For people back in the Philippines. And for Filipinos around the world.”

The malls filled again for Sunday’s Group A finale against Norway. So did Eden Park, long before kickoff. It filled with Filipino flags and festive outfits. One man in a Filipino boxing robe and gloves drew enthusiastic cheers when he popped up on stadium video boards. And once the game began, every minor moment — an intercepted pass, an incursion into the Norway half — would draw a shrill roar.

“Even when [goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel] would make basic saves, they were screaming, and yelling,” Bolden said with a smile. “And we love that so much.”

An unmistakable chant rang around the famous stadium early on: “Fi-li-pi-nas! Fi-li-pi-nas!”

Players always expected an uptick in interest and support at the World Cup. But “this,” defender Dominique Randle said, “was 10 times more than what we could've ever imagined.”

A reporter told Long after the match: “The way Filipinos in Manila look at football is like super different now.”

And that, all along, was their goal.

“I hope football grows immensely,” Bolden said. “Right now it's basketball, volleyball that are the predominantly main sports in the Philippines. But after this, that's gotta change.”

It has to change because, as Long said, “we kinda had to work our way backwards.” They started with the national team rather than the grassroots. They started by importing talent. Now they have to develop it.

“Qualifying for the World Cup, it showed all the gaps we have in our system,” Long admitted.

The players know that they have inspired young girls, that they will encourage participation, that thousands will see them and want to be them.

“I just want all the little girls in the Philippines to know that this is a dream that can be attainable. They can do this,” McDaniel said.

Long echoed that: “The little girls I see waving and cheering, they deserve to be here. And I want them to know that it's possible for them.”

“But we have to make it possible for them,” Long added. “Through investment, through funding.” And that, she knows, is the difficult part.

Her team’s success was largely funded by a prominent Filipino businessman, Jefferson Cheng. There is a lingering worry among some longtime fans around what might become of the team if Cheng’s support someday dries up.

“Jefferson Cheng and the PFF took a really big chance to give us anything and everything we could to prepare, to even qualify for the World Cup,” Long said. “And to bet on the unknown is a risk — in business, in life.”

But it’s a worthwhile risk, she argued. “It's the utmost honor to bring ‘Lupang Hinirang’ [the Filipino anthem] here, to bring the Philippine flag here for the first time,” she said. “And to be on the pitch to do that — definite highlight of my life.”

It had been almost an hour now since she stepped off that pitch, since her World Cup ended. Journalists had dispersed, and teammates were waiting, but Long stayed until there was only her and one reporter left. Because she wanted to send a message, that investment creates opportunity, and opportunity changes lives — like hers.

“Every struggle, every tear, every laugh,” she said with her final words of the night — “it was all worth it on this very, very incredible journey.”