DESPITE the Philippine women's floorball team's 6-3 defeat to Thailand in the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Tuesday, forward Michelle Cruzado is not losing hope on the country's chances of snagging the gold medal.
She even believes the loss meant little and the Filipinas are still better than their Thai counterparts.
"Technically, we can compare with Thailand. I think we're better than them," she said.
Part of that confidence stems from what Cruzado noted was a better performance from the Philippines in this match compared to its 8-1 win over Indonesia in its opener.
"I think the team played extremely well, more than our expectations," she said.
It's just that the physicality of the Thailand team caught the Filipinas off guard, and the home team suffered a big hit when captain Jade Rivera suffered an ankle injury midway through the second period.
Those factors were crucial as the Philippines played catch up all game long and it wasn't until the third period where it was able to adjust to the highly-physical affair.
"We're going for the win and we really wanted the win. We just focused on our game. We know what to do, we trained hard, and I think hindi nakakaapekto yung lamang ng other team sa amin," said the 21-year-old from Las Pinas, who scored the Philippines' third goal of the match at the 58th minute.
"But some things, you can't really handle on the court like unforeseen circumstances like injury and tough play by the other players."
The Philippines takes a one-day break before facing Singapore on Thursday in what is viewed as a must-win affair if the Filipinas still want a crack at the gold.
"The loss is not gonna affect us. The team's mentality is strong. I think we can take Singapore," she said. "We just have to be mentally ready and focused. Singapore is physically strong as well, so we have to take that on."
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