President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. may have planted the dream of seeing the Philippines reach the 2030 FIFA World Cup, but national team star Sandro Reyes believes the squad cannot afford to look that far ahead—not when bigger, more immediate battles are already staring them in the face.
Speaking just hours after Marcos mentioned Philippine football during his fifth State of the Nation Address, Reyes admitted that qualifying for the world’s biggest football tournament remains far beyond the team’s current focus.
“The World Cup is something that’s very far out of our eyesight right now,” Reyes said during the pre-match press conference at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.
Instead of getting carried away by a dream still four years away, the Germany-based midfielder said the Philippine Men’s National Football Team must first survive the challenges directly in front of it—from the ASEAN Hyundai Cup and the Asian Games to future friendlies and another grueling World Cup qualifying campaign.
For Reyes, the formula is simple: stop dreaming too far ahead and start improving one day at a time.
“For sure, day by day, we’ll try to work hard to get better. That’s all we can control,” he said.
Still, the 22-year-old welcomed Marcos’ decision to highlight both the men’s and women’s national football teams in the SONA, saying the presidential recognition could open doors for greater government, private-sector, and grassroots support.
“It would be nice to get even more support than we are getting, so we can achieve those goals that he is saying,” Reyes added.
But just a day after the President’s ambitious World Cup message, the national team was handed a painful reminder of how difficult the road ahead remains.
The Philippines suffered a crushing 4-1 defeat to Myanmar in its ASEAN Hyundai Cup opener Tuesday night—an alarming reversal after the Filipinos demolished the same opponent, 5-1, in a friendly match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium only a month earlier.
This time, however, regional pride and tournament survival were on the line, and Myanmar turned the tables in devastating fashion.
The defeat exposed the massive gap between the Philippines’ World Cup dream and its present reality. Before the national team can think about joining the world’s elite in 2030, it must first prove it can consistently compete—and win—against its Southeast Asian rivals.
Marcos has issued the challenge. Reyes has acknowledged the dream.
But after the Myanmar nightmare, one question now hangs over Philippine football:
Is the 2030 World Cup goal an inspiring vision—or a dream the national team is still nowhere near ready to chase?