NEW Indonesia coach Rajko Toroman said it will still be difficult to dethrone the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games and the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers even with him at the helm.
Toroman was recently tapped to coach Indonesia for two years with a possibility of another two years until the Fiba World Cup where Indonesia is one of the co-hosts along with the Philippines and Japan.
The veteran international coach, however, is under no illusion that his new team is capable of an upset, saying Indonesia still has a long way to go before challenging the Philippines in the SEA Games.
“It’s very difficult because we change some of the players and we have a new generation, some younger players,” said the Serbian coach on Wednesday. “We still don’t know our naturalized player but of course, the Philippines is a big favorite to win the gold medal and the other teams will fight for the second position.”
Toroman was at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday. He is in the country to help out Mighty Sports, which will represent the Philippines in the Jones Cup.
Before coming over, Toroman went to Jakarta to finalize his contract. He will back in Indonesia at the end of his stint with Mighty Sports in the Jones Cup.
Incidentally, Indonesia is bracketed with Gilas Pilipinas along with South Korea and Thailand in Group A of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers.
Toroman said Indonesia's goal for the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers is to improve.
Under the competition format, the top two teams in each of the six groups will automatically move to the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup while the third placers will battle it out for the final four spots in the main tournament.
“We will try to improve. That’s our first goal, to improve the team. We know that it’s very difficult. We hope that we can be third for a chance to participate in the Fiba Asia. That’s our goal, to be third in our group.”
“Of course, if we can make a surprise, we will do that but if you are talking about today, South Korea and Philippines are far from us,” said Toroman.
“My contract will be two (years) plus two. We will see. We have to go step by step, day by day. The goal will be to improve the team and be more competitive,” said Toroman.
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