Mc Daniel played an important role in the Philippines' home win at the 2022 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship. At that time, the Philippines women's team beat the Vietnam women's team 4-0 in the semi-finals, defeating Thailand 3-0 in the finals to be crowned for the first time in the region.
This year, the Southeast Asian Women's tournament will take place in Vietnam from August 6 to 19. The Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar women's teams and the Australian U23 women's team are considered competitors for the championship with the Philippines women's team.
However, goalkeeper Olivia Mc Daniel is confident. Sharing on the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) homepage, she said: "I think our goal is very simple, we want to come here to compete and defend the title. We want to win.
I think we will face a little more challenges with Australia and Myanmar in our group, but at the same time, there are many strong teams in this tournament. So, no matter which team we have to face, it will be a great match for us and the Philippines players are eager to face these teams.
Despite the pressure of expectations placed on his shoulders and playing in Vietnam, Mc Daniel still feels that the Philippines has the ability and confidence to develop.
She emphasized: I think the pressure is always there no matter which match we enter, whether it is a friendship or a tournament in which we have to defend the title like this. But at the same time, as I said before, pressure is a privilege for us and we have the opportunity to defend our title and win consecutive championships, that is our goal.
I think winning at home is even more difficult, because playing in front of home and family, you don't want to let people down and that can put more pressure on you. So I think playing at the opponent's home ground will help us stay more calm."
In addition to winning the 2022 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship, the Philippines women's team also reached the semi-finals of the 2022 Asian Women's Football Cup, before participating in the 2023 Women's World Cup. For Mc Daniel, those experiences have helped to reinforce the team's desire for success.
I think our team has gone through a lot of difficulties and we have gone through many ups and downs, and we have the honor of playing in a great atmosphere like the World Cup.
I think it made us stronger together as a team and we were ready to face anything.
According to the schedule, the Philippines women's team will begin their journey to defend the championship with a match against the Timor-Leste women's team on August 7. After that, they will meet Australia U23 (10.8) and Myanmar (13.8).
Meanwhile, Group A includes the host teams of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
