Coach Alen Stajcic addressed questions about the Filipinas’ lineages, especially in relation to their upcoming match against Norway in the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Sunday.
A foreign journalist apparently referred to national team members Sara Eggesvik and forward Meryll Serrano as Norwegians, prompting a reaction from the Filipinas’ head coach.
“We have two Filipino players who spent a lot of their time in Norway. They’re not playing for Norway. They obviously spent a lot of their childhood in Norway,” said Stajcic in Tiebreaker Times.
“Meryll was actually born in the Philippines. But as I’ve said many times, I don’t really care where they’re from, and we don’t really care who they’re playing against.”
The Australian coach defended his players, citing that fans should not be hostile against foreign-born Filipinos who choose to represent the country internationally.
“We talk about the heart and spirit of our team and our nation and our flag that we play for and our national anthem that the players sing for. I am proud of the whole group. Sara, Meryll, it’s irrelevant really where they grew up,” said Stajcic.
“So you know, we don’t want to talk about individual players here in front of the whole group and isolate them in a different way, but you know, just from the coaching perspective, I’m really proud of the whole group that we’ve got to this point in a tournament.”
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