Maria Dela Cruz, a junior goalkeeper for Idaho State soccer, played for the Philippine National Team as part of the 2014 Asian Cup Qualifiers. For more information on that, click here and here.
Now some comments on her trip in her own words.
Where do I even begin? This whole journey has been life changing. I can
honestly say it was the most amazing experience I have ever been
through. I have learned so much in the past month than I could have ever
imagined. There were many different encounters I went through that have
shifted my perspective about life in a third world country. Though I
have been to the Philippines countless times, observing the poverty
there compared to the poverty in Bangladesh was entirely different. I
did not expect Bangladesh to be such a run-down country, with traffic
and pollution flooding the streets, disintegrating buildings everywhere
you looked and unearthly smells that were foreign to me. The people that
worked for FIFA, assisting us throughout the journey, were incredibly kind.
They were always concerned about our well-being, which was reassuring to a
team that had never been in such a country.
Coming into the first practice, I was extremely nervous and had no idea
what to expect. A few practices in, I found myself constantly laughing
and talking among these girls that I had barely even known. Having
similar backgrounds, we found out that we all had many things in common,
which allowed us to become even closer. As the weeks went on, I felt
like I had known these girls for many years, it was so comfortable being
around them. The team was unlike any other team I had been on. Every
single girl had a positive attitude, they all were amazing soccer
players and overall they were just genuine people. The coaching staff
was very professional (as expected) and demanded exactly what they
needed from their players.
After our first win against Iran, we felt like we were on top of the
world. We knew we had made not only our families proud, but we made an
entire country proud. That feeling brings chills to me whenever I think
about it. The game against Thailand was unfortunately a different story.
The outcome was not as we had hoped for, but seeing they were ranked 54
places above us losing by a lone goal gave this young team hope for the
future. Our last game was against the host team,
Bangladesh. We had come back with a vengeance after the Thailand game
and successfully placed four goals in the back of the net to their zero. All
in all, I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished in such a
short amount of time together. The future of this team is bright, we can
only go up from here. Go Malditas!
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