1/3 Aug 3, 2023 12:43 PM PHT [OPINION] The Women’s World Cup and understanding Filipino-America rappler.com/voices/ispeak/opinion-womens-world-cup-understanding-filipino-america-sarina-bolden/ 'Filipinos here in the Philippines cannot simply accuse Filipino-Americans of wanting better when all of us here aspire to the same thing' In the Philippines’ first appearance on the Women’s Football World Cup stage, AP News reports, “ Women’s World Cup team from Philippines has American flavor.” Filipino social media disliked the idea of what they call “American credit-grabbing” of the Western media. Five days later, Sarina Bolden scored a historic goal against New Zealand, giving the Philippines its first-ever win in the World Cup. The New York Times tweeted, “… Sarina Bolden, a California-born forward, scored the first goal in the Philippines’ World Cup history,” which caused another uproar on social media for our kababayans here in the country. In 2020, however, I remember the discourse on social media about the use of Filipinx and how Filipinos here in the Philippines questioned the Filipino diaspora, particularly Filipino- Americans, about their “Filipino-ness.” As a scholar of nationalism caught in the crossfire, this made me think about where this is coming from; also to know the Filipino’s understanding of diaspora. When I was studying for my undergraduate degree in history, there was no dedicated subject on the history of the Filipino diaspora and its intricacies. Neither was it tackled during our general education Philippine history.