THE pool of talent has been expanded, but the same problem remains for coach Yeng Guiao as he begins preparing the Philippine men’s team for the second round of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
Guiao again faces the dilemma of having to whip into a competitive unit a new national team cast that will only have the benefit of a week of pratice before heading to war against Iran and Qatar next week.
“It’s the same problem all over again for me. Its’ going to be an issue of preparation, an issue again of familiarity because this is not the team that we brought to the Asian Games,” the national coach pointed out.
“It’s not also the core of Rain or Shine so mag-iiba yung core nito, mag-iiba 'yung characters, mag-iiba yung players, and we only have one week or so to whip up a good team so that we can be competitive against Iran.”
The 59-year-old former Pampanga vice governor and congressman began holding practice with the team on Monday night at the Meralco gym, nine days before meeting Hamed Haddadi and the Iranians in Tehran.
While Guiao has proven he’s up to the task after steering the Rain or Shine-backed Philippine squad to fifth place in the Asiad, Iran to him is an entirely different animal to the teams the Filipinos battled in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“You play Iran anywhere, it’s going to be a tall order for you to beat them,” stressed the NLEX Road Warriors mentor. “But if you play them in Iran, that’s even a taller order.”
But the national coach is not complaining.
“Bagong team na naman ito, ibig sabihin parati kang nag-start from scratch, parati kang nag-start from square one,” he said. “We will make the most out of it, we are used to cramming anyway.”
And Guiao only has to look at the Asiad as a perfect specimen.
“But I’m hopeful because sa Asian Games, we were very decent despite the limitations, so we are hoping that we can also put up a good fight against Iran despite the same limitations, the same problems actually.”
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