MANILA – Its painful defeat to Kazakhstan left Team Philippines no other recourse but to focus on its 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifier game against Iran on Monday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Head coach Yeng Guiao admitted that the 88-92 loss on Friday was a bitter pill to swallow but still urged his players to put this one behind them and set their eyes on upsetting the Iranians.
“I’m taking responsibility naman for this game. I felt that everybody in the team was there because I decided to,” Guiao said. “Of course we’re disappointed but we still have one game on Monday.”
“We can’t feel too negative [about] ourselves. I think we can salvage the situation to be able to play a good game against Iran and learn from this game,” he added.
The Philippines was currently tied with Japan on third place in Group F (5-4 win-loss). This means the Filipino team’s remaining matches against Iran (Dec. 3), Qatar (Feb. 21) and Kazakhstan (Feb. 24) are must-wins.
Only the top three teams in the second round groupings will gain automatic qualification to the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, with the best fourth seed earning the last ticket.
Finishing on fourth place in Group F is not a guarantee for the Philippines to claim the last spot for Asia and Oceania and move on to the World Cup proper – unless China ranks fourth in Group E.
Guiao believes Team Philippines has yet to show its full potential. He hopes this comes out sooner as the players the FIBA has slapped with suspensions become available one by one.
“We’re still a long way from being the team that we really wanted to be, and be able to explore all our potentials,” Guiao said./PN
