JAKARTA – After a close loss to China on Tuesday night, the Philippines is in line to face Korea in the knockout quarterfinals of men's basketball in the 18th Asian Games on Monday.
The road won't get any easier after that.
Assuming Yeng Guiao's hastily assembled team of PBA players reinforced by Jordan Clarkson gets past Korea, it will likely still need to get past Iran in the semifinals to stay on track for another possible shot at China in the gold-medal game.
Based on the tournament format of the 18th Asiad basketball tournament, the Philippines, as the likely second seed in Group D, will be facing the top-seed in Group A, Korea, in the quarterfinals.
At 1-1 (win-loss), the Philippines is expected to get the second spot after China (1-0) and Kazakhstan (0-1) square off on Thursday.
As if Korea isn't tough enough of a challenge, the tournament format states that the winner of the Philippines-Korea tussle will be up against either the top-seed of Group B or the second-seed of Group C.
And who could possibly be one of the teams?
Iran.
So far, Group B teams have not played a single game since there are only two teams in the bracket in Iran and Syria. Both teams will see action on Saturday and Iran is a cinch to top the group.
As for the second-ranked team in Group C, that could be either Chinese Taipei, Japan, or Qatar. So far, Chinese Taipei is ahead in the team standings with a 2-0 record, followed by Japan with 2-1 and Qatar 1-1.
So if the formcharts hold, the Philippines must beat Korea, Iran and China in that order to win the gold medal at the Games.
It would have been entirely different if Gilas beat China in their battle for the top seeding in Group D.
China, which won that match, 82-80, is in line to face the second seed in Group A , which could be either Indonesia or Thailand, in the quarterfinals and the first placer in Group C - either Taipei or Japan - in the semifinals.
Sigh.
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