INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?Cobra Energy Drink and Cossack Blue seek the remaining semifinal berths when they tackle separate rivals on Thursday in vital matches closing the elimination round of the 2010 PBL PG Flex Erase Placenta Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

The Cobra Ironmen seek their fifth win against the already eliminated Fern-C Ferntastics at 2 p.m. while Cossack plays AddMix at 4.

Cobra and Cossack are hoping to avoid complications in their bid to join Pharex B Complex and Excelroof in the Final Four, where the top two seeds will have twice-to-beat advantages.

If Cobra and Cossack lose, they will allow Ascof Lagundi to forge a three-way tie for third. In this scenario, Cobra will get the boot, with Ascof Lagundi and Cossack advancing.

The best scenario for the Ironmen would be to prevail over the Ferntastics and the Transformers downing the Spirits.

If this happens, Cobra will clinch the No. 2 seed over Excelroof because of the winner-over-the-other rule while giving its sister team, the Spirits, a free ride to the semifinals.

A Cobra and Cossack victory will guarantee both teams of semifinal slots, with the Spirits clinching the No. 3 seed and the Ironmen claiming the last spot. Cedelf P. Tupas