Guiao: Upset possible vs Jordan

TIANJIN - Powerade Team Pilipinas, once the dominant team in Asia, battles emerging power Jordan today, looking for an upset win to stay in the hunt for a ticket to the World Championship in Turkey next year.

Powerade RP has avoided an early showdown with China but is setting out the underdog just the same against the Jordan team, which the Nationals have not beaten in their last three meetings.

The Nationals and the Jordanians clash at 2 p.m. for one of the coveted Final Four slots in the 25th FIBA Asia Championship, which stakes three seats to the Turkey world meet.

“Masyadong malakas, pero may silat yan (They’re so strong but don’t discount an upset),” said RP coach Yeng Guiao after seeing the Jordanians in their tough stand against the top seeded Chinese Wednesday night.

“If we beat Chinese-Taipei on our 50-percent three-point shooting, I think we have to shoot 60 percent to beat Jordan. That’s how tough they are,” said assistant coach Rhoel Nadurata.

The winner of the RP-Jordan duel will meet the victor of the Iran-Qatar match-up in the semis.

The other quarterfinal tiffs pit China against Chinese-Taipei and Korea versus Lebanon.

The Nationals are two wins away from achieving their goal of a stint in the 2010 world meet. But they are definitely in for rough sailing.

Jordan was the same team that crushed the Philippines’ hopes in the last Asian meet in Tokushima, Japan, toppling the Filipinos in a virtual knockout duel in the final day of the elimination round.

This was also the same team that walloped the Philippines, 90-59, in the recent Jones Cup competition in Taipei.

A tall, agile team made more potent by naturalized player Rasheim Wright, the Jordanians impressed everyone here with their brave stand against the Chinese, narrowly losing the match, 83-89.

Jordan went without a loss here before bowing to China. In the recent Jones Cup, the Jordanians swept all their assignments, except the one against the Iranians which was halted by a fight just a minute into the game. Jordan lost the match by forfeiture.

“They beat us by (more than) 30 points in the Jones Cup and I don’t know if we have improved by 30 points by this time. It’s going to be tough but we’re not giving up,” said Guiao.

The Nationals tried to polish their game in practice Wednesday evening and yesterday morning. The team was to watch a video and plot its game plan last night.

“Most probably, we would just let Wright to do his thing while trying to do our best to stop the others. He’s so good, we’ll just hope he gets tired,” said Guiao.

“He’s unstoppable going to the right. When forced to go to the left, he’s good at pulling up,” Guiao said.