Gilas Pilipinas braces for Jordan to end the qualifier with a bang
Game Monday
(Philippine Arena, Bocaue)
6 p.m. — Philippines vs Jordan
THERE’S something visiting Jordan is carrying into today’s FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers’ sixth window windup match that Gilas Pilipinas finds all too familiar and to an extent, worrisome.
It’s that burning desire to exact revenge on an old tormentor.
Having used this very motivation to get back at fourth-window conqueror Lebanon, 107-96, last Friday, the Filipinos (15 points on a 6-3 record) know perfectly well how driven the Falcons (14 points on 5-4) will be to make this a “payback game” for themselves.
Gilas beat Jordan in Amman in their Window 5 faceoff back in November, 74-66.
“Obviously Jordan’s going to come in with a lot of energy and motivation to bounce back, because we beat them in their home court,” Gilas guard Kiefer Ravena said.
Then there’s the importance of ending the Qualifiers with a bang for the two World Cup-bound sides and building momentum for the actual campaign in August.
Against Lebanon, Gilas was at its finest in terms of offense. Not only have coach Chot Reyes’ undersized troops scored their highest output of the Qualifiers, they also matched the single-game high of 17 three-pointers.
For the 6 p.m. home duel with Jordan at the Philippine Arena, the Pinoy dribblers want to crank it up in defense, too.
“Very good performance on the offensive end (versus Lebanon). However, there’s still a lot of things left to be desired on our defense,” noted Mr. Reyes.
“We gave up almost 100 points to a team without (Wael) Arakji, (Ali) Haidar, and even their naturalized player (Jonathan Alredge)…It’s a learning experience for us, We need to be able to play better defense to come out and have a better performance against Jordan,” he added.
On the heels of his rousing debut, Justin Brownlee is expected to lead the veteran-youth combo of June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo and Mason Amos, among others.
“Offensively, everyone is clicking and the chemistry seems really well. But defensively, we got to get better. I think we could come out and defend better next game after we see things to adjust and do better,” said the newly-minted Pinoy Mr. Brownlee. — Olmin Leyba
