National team head coach Yeng Guiao oversees Gilas Pilipinas practice at Meralco Gym. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Gilas Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao bared that he is looking beyond China as the Nationals prepare to slug it out with some of the best teams in the globe starting on Saturday in the Fiba World Cup.
“We will be there not just to try and make it to the next round, but also to be the best Asian team,” Guiao told the Inquirer on Wednesday, shortly after the Filipinos’ final practice before leaving for Foshan.
That’s because the best Asian team will earn automatic inclusion to the main draw of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and that would be a prize just as big as the Filipinos managing to make it out of Group D play next week.
The Philippines last played in the Summer Games in the 1972 edition in Munich with a team built around Bogs Adornado, Freddie Webb and Manny Paner. The late Ed Ocampo was the skipper of that team.
Team Philippines was bracketed in Group B then, with eventual gold medal winner the Soviet Union, which won over the United States, 51-50, in the most controversial manner.
When the PBA came into being in 1975, that effectively extinguished hopes of the Philippines playing in the Olympics again, until the advent of open basketball that started with the US Dream Team in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain.
A total of seven Olympic berths are at stake in the global meet to be played in eight Chinese cities. The best two European and American teams gain direct entry to Tokyo rounded out by the topnotchers from Africa, Oceania and Asia.
The Philippines will try to be the best Asian team in a field that also features perennial powerhouses China, Iran, Jordan and South Korea.
Japan, being the host of the Olympiad, is automatically qualified.
But the road to such a goal will be treacherous. Gilas is set to plunge into a pair of tough tests beginning with Italy (Aug. 31) followed by World No. 4 Serbia (Sept. 2), where both countries parade NBA-caliber teams.
The Filipinos wrap up group play against African champion Angola on Sept. 4.
If Gilas fails to claim top Asian ranking, the Filipinos will have to go through a strenuous qualifying process next year.
The Philippines will need at least two victories to move to the next round of the World Cup, which Guiao and his staff have been preparing well for the past two weeks. Two of his deputies are already in China to scout the Italians and Serbians.
Guiao, though, hopes that defense pulls them through in the matches against the European teams.
“I feel like it’s how you execute your defense is what is going to matter—especially against a significantly more talented team,” he said.
“If you’re playing a team more talented than you are, you can’t take it possession for possession on offense. You have to make stops and make those consistently,” Guiao added.
“We can’t solely rely on our scoring as they have more players [who can score] than us,” he said. “We have to defend better than we usually do.”
Gilas leaves the country at 8:20 a.m. on Thursday and will put the final touches on their preparations when they practice again twice on Friday.