By REYNALD MAGALLON
Other than the next two games being deemed crucial to Gilas Pilipinas’ bid in the 2027 World Cup, the players are more motivated on defending the home court in the second window of the qualifiers.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone noted that the biggest concern for the players is that they want to make sure they put up a good game against the visiting teams New Zealand and Australia.
“I think the biggest concern for the players right now is protecting the home court. I think that is really important to them,” said Cone in an interview with Power and Play with Kom Noli Eala.
“They wanna show out well in front of their fans and there’s always a certain pride about playing at home so that makes this particular window extremely important for these guys,” he added.
Fans are expected to come in droves when the Nationals take on the Tall Blacks on Thursday, Feb. 26 before taking on the Boomers a few days later on March 1.
Cone said the team is hoping to ride on that motivation to at least sneak one win against the regional powerhouses.
With the way things are looking for the Nationals, they are already assured of a spot in the second round but since the results of every game will be carried over to the next, it is still crucial for Gilas to get a victory and have a better slate.
For one, only the top 7 teams in the region are getting the ticket to the global showpiece and the Nationals will be taking on three between Jordan, Iran, Iraq and Syria in the next.
“Every game is important but it’s not like we’re gonna get knocked out if we lose this but to me, what’s going to get us to the World Cup is how well we play the middle eastern teams,” said Cone.
“We would like to sneak in a game against Australia and New Zealand but we really have to play well down the road in November and into the next year against the middle eastern teams,” he added
