FOR veteran forward Yasseen Musa, the closed-door Smart Araneta Coliseum may just be the edge Qatar needs to upset Team Philippines at home when they meet on Monday in the 2019 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
The 38-year-old cager knows how boisterous the Philippine crowds can get, being a frequent visitor in the country for Fiba tournaments, most notably in the 2013 Fiba Asia Championship at Mall of Asia Arena.
That's why for him, the absence of the "sixth man" may just level the playing field and give the Qataris the leg-up they badly need.
"I know the Philippine team will miss their fans. I know basketball here is big and the fans are always behind their team. But it's gonna be a little bit of favor for us that the crowd won't be here," he said.
However, Qatar has its own set of problems as a number of key cogs are without them for this away game.
Naturalized guard Trey Johnson, guards Mansour El Hadary and Abdulrahman Saad, and forward Erfan Ali Saeed are all out for this game, leaving the bulk of the leadership on Musa's shoulders.
"We're missing a lot of players to injuries and some other guys are tired," he said. "We don't know how the game is going to be, but we are ready to play and we're just gonna see how the game will happen."
Musa also acknowledges that despite the crowd's absence, the Philippines remain as the favorites for this duel.
"We know they're still gonna be a tough team. We respect them and their team. But we got a lot a lot of young players who want to take the opportunity and we're gonna be ready."
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