EMIL NOGUERA
The Philippine team celebrates after making it to the finals of the Street Child World Cup. PHOTO FROM @FAIRPLAYFORALL TWITTER ACCOUNT
The Philippines shocked powerhouse Mozambique, 1-0, to reach the finals in the girls’ division of the prestigious 2014 Street Child World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Filipinas will face the Brazilians for the championship. Brazil blanked El Salvador in their semifinal match, 5-0.
The Philippines arranged a semifinal meeting with Mozambique after crushing England in the quarterfinals, 6-0.
The Philippines topped Group 2 in the preliminaries, earning six points on victories against El Salvador (3-1) and South Africa (9-0), to make it to the knockout stage.
The girls’ team is composed of Angelica, Ronalyn and April Joy of Payatas, Crystal of Mango Tree House, Agot, Joy and Maylene of SOS Village Davao, Juvie Lynn of Kids International Ministries and Yanzie of Gawad Kalinga.
The organizers opted to withhold their last names because of the child protection law.
In the boys’ division, the Philippines lost to Pakistan, 3-2 (on penalties) in the quarterfinals.
The Philippine boys’ team advanced to the quarterfinals by placing third in Group 2 with seven points from two wins, one draw and one loss. They beat Nicaragua (1-0) and Tanzania (2-0) then drew with Argentina (1-1) before bowing to Burundi (0-4).
British Roy Moore is calling the shots for the Philippine Street Child squad.
“The Street Child World Cup is a fantastic example of breaking down of gender stereotypes. In so many countries, sport is still considered to be the domain of men and boys,” International Human Traf?cking Consultant Abigail Stepinitz said in an interview posted at the official website of the tournament.
More than 200 homeless youth ages 14 to 17 from 19 countries took part in the tournament.
The first Street Child World Cup was held in Durban, South Africa, in March 2010.