RACAL and Cafe France gun for a share of the top spot when they square off in the PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup on Thursday.
The match between the two teams tied at second with 6-1 win-loss records starts at 5 p.m. at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The winner will tie Cignal-San Beda atop the standings and boost its bid for an outright semifinals berth and a twice-to-beat edge.
Racal coach Jerry Codinera expects a tight match and considers his team the underdog.
“Malakas talaga sila and natalo nila kami sa offseason, but we’ll be ready to make some adjustments. We have players naman na I hope can provide quality support for our leaders,” Codinera said, calling the the Bakers a "champion team."
Cafe France coach Egay Macaraya just wants to see consistency from his players before heading into the next phase of the tournament.
“Hindi pa rin kami consistent. But the only thing I can hope is for us to have a breakout game because we badly need that dahil parang on and off kami lagi,” he said.
“Ang maganda dito is yung destiny, nasa kamay pa rin namin. We have to win our remaining games to hopefully land a spot in the top two,” added Macaraya.
Meanwhile, Tanduay (4-3) hopes to remain in the hunt for at least the fourth place when it tackles the eliminated Dragons (0-7).