P

ort Moresby, Nuku'€™alofa, Kota Kinabalu and Da Nang are among the more exotic stamps in Australian coach Gary Phillips'€™ passport. And, all going well, the destination of Rio de Janeiro will be added in two years'€™ time.

Phillips, 51, is an expert when it comes to taking on tough jobs. And after setting out cones and putting on sessions in the likes of Tonga, Vietnam and Borneo in recent years, the former National Soccer League midfielder is in the middle of arguably his most daunting assignment yet.

He'€™s trying to take a Papua New Guinea (PNG) soccer side to their first-ever Olympics in the spiritual home of the sport, Brazil, in 2016.

Since the middle of last year, he'€™s been in charge of the PNG women'€™s team. If they win the Nations Cup on home soil in July '€” and then a subsequent play-off against New Zealand '€” they will become Oceania'€™s representative for women'€™s soccer in Rio.

'€œRegardless of the level, the country, or the gender, every position has challenges with different objectives, but this one will stretch me,'€ Phillips told ESPN FC.

The biggest challenge for Phillips is that there is no domestic women'€™s league in PNG so the nation'€™s best players don'€™t have regular competition at club level.

That'€™s why next month'€™s Southeast Asian tour will be crucial for the PNG ladies as they face Singapore and Thailand in four friendly internationals.

Phillips admits that his squad will need to get a lot more international match fitness under their belt if they are to have any chance of overturning New Zealand. At last year'€™s Nations Cup, Phillips saw his side put up a brave effort, holding the Oceania powerhouses goalless until the 60th minute. But having used up his three substitutes in a tiring team, PNG conceded three late goals, with the third coming in the 91st minute.

'€œConsidering PNG lost their previous encounter against the Kiwis 11-0, this was a huge improvement that gave us confidence,'€ Phillips said. '€œI cannot fault the players'€™ commitment despite their own personal challenges. But we need to get fitter and tougher so hopefully the Southeast Asian tour will help us achieve that.'€

PNG'€™s women have jumped 86 places to 48 on the FIFA rankings. Singapore is ranked 100 and Thailand 31.

Phillips makes frequent trips to Port Moresby from his base in Coffs Harbour, north of Sydney. Despite winning the old NSL as head coach of Sydney Olympic in 2002, his managerial assignments in recent years have been on foreign soil.

He was Tonga'€™s men'€™s coach in 2001, manager of Vietnamese club Da Nang three years later and was in charge of Malaysian club Sabah in 2010 and 2011. That was a position that Sabah'€™s former Socceroo Scott Ollerenshaw recommended him for. He also held a coach education position at the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur in 2008 and 2009.

But Phillips has found domestic opportunities hard to come by, despite maintaining a public profile through his media commitments. Coaching the Newcastle Jets'€™ W-League side and working as Technical Director at Football Queensland in recent years have only partially satisfied his ambition.

'€œIt'€™s frustrating,'€ he admitted. '€œThere are basically only 30 A-League jobs when you count assistant roles and the youth league so it'€™s hard to get a foot in the door. I'€™m equally interested in Asian positions because I'€™ve had success there, but unless you know the right person it is no longer just about your CV.'€

As a diminutive midfielder for Sydney Olympic and the Brisbane Strikers, Phillips is considered one of the best players not to be capped at senior level, having represented Australian Schoolboys and won two NSL titles. When still in his 30s, he coached Olympic to the NSL title in his first season but was outrageously sacked with only three games left the following season as his team sat just three points off the top of the table.

While his move to Asia and Oceania has been more by necessity than design, he has done his best to embrace the way his coaching life has turned out. His love of surfing '€” he competed part-time on the pro tour in the 1980s and '€™90s when his soccer commitments allowed '€” has lessened the blow of being in remote and tropical destinations a long way from home.

'€œWherever you coach, you are learning new ways of doing things,'€ he said. '€œYou cannot simply apply methods you used before on different teams, cultures or genders. What I did in Vietnam, Malaysia or Queensland may not work in PNG.'€

Speaking of PNG, he acknowledges that if he could get their women to Rio it might surpass any previous coaching achievement, like earning Malaysia Super League promotion for perennial underachievers Sabah in just seven months, or defeating Perth Glory in the 2002 NSL Grand Final.

'€œTo qualify PNG football for an Olympics for the first time would be fantastic, given the lack of club football that stagnates development in a country where the sport is actually becoming quite popular. I think PNG would offer me an island somewhere in the Pacific should I get them to Rio!'€

PNG playing in an elite soccer competition in Brazil would have shades of the Jamaican bobsleigh team competing at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. If Phillips can pull it off, it is sure to catch the attention of clubs in Australia and Asia.

Jason Dasey is senior editor of ESPN FC, Indonesia'€™s most popular English language soccer website with a new SE Asia edition and a daily Indonesian language TV show on NET. Twitter: @JasonDasey