IT has been more than a month since the Philippine women's national football team (PWNFT) qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, but Filipino-American Bella Flanigan still can not fully grasp that fact that she is going to play in football's grandest stage.

'It still hasn't sunk in for me (that we qualified for the World Cup). I catch myself during training sometimes and I'm like 'I need to work harder because we have to prepare for the World Cup and not get sidetracked',' shared the 17-year-old Flanigan at The Manila Times roundtable discussion on Tuesday.