The Philippines endured a 2-3 defeat to Morocco on Monday, November 24, yet the Filipina5 celebrated historic milestones in the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup. Inday Tolentin and Cathrine Graversen scored the nation’s first-ever goals in the tournament, electrifying a packed home crowd at the PhilSports Arena.

Tolentin opened the scoring less than four minutes into the match with a well-placed free kick. Moments later, Graversen added a second goal in transition, sending 1,171 fans into a frenzy. Despite the early lead, Morocco quickly turned the match around with three goals from Nadia Laftah, Siiham Tadlaoui, and Jasmine Demraoui, ultimately claiming the win.

Historic moments amid tough competition

Tolentin and Graversen’s goals marked a landmark for Philippine futsal. Graversen described the experience as a dream come true.

“It’s a World Cup, right, everybody wants to score, so for me it’s a dream come true,” Graversen said. “To do it on your homecourt makes it more exciting and crazy. The atmosphere was just wild.”

Even after conceding three consecutive goals, the Filipina5 continued to fight, creating multiple scoring chances. In the last five minutes, the team attempted a ‘power play’ to try to regain momentum, reflecting their resilience and determination.

Looking ahead in the tournament

The loss left the Filipina5 with three points after two matches, following an opening 0-6 loss to Poland. Their final group-stage match is against quarterfinal-bound Argentina, who have six points from two wins, scheduled for Thursday.

Graversen emphasized the team’s effort despite the setback:

“We created a lot of opportunities and we gave it our all. That’s all you can ask, basically,” she said. “And we fought until the very last minute, even tried ‘power play’ to try something different in the last five minutes.”

While the campaign ends with mixed results, the historic goals provide pride and inspiration for Philippine futsal, proving the Filipina5 can make history on the world stage.