In the basketball world, traditional American teams and European powers have always been complementary, and the top three in almost all international competitions have been won by these two continents. According to statistics, only one of the medals in all men's basketball World Cup and Olympic Games in history was taken away by other teams across the continent - the answer is unexpected and reasonable, this country is the Philippines. They won the bronze medal at the 1954 Men's Basketball World Cup, creating the history of Asian teams. Unexpectedly, it is because the Philippine men's basketball team has not been strong in recent decades. Not to mention the World Cup and Olympics, they are not the top team in Asia; in principle, it is because the people of this country are no less enthusiastic about basketball than any region and have a long history. Their local league PBA has a history of 44 years so far, second only to NBA in the world. Compared to the NBA's four-month offseason, Filipino players still have to play in the Cup, almost all year round. With the fertile basketball soil, the Philippines broke through in this time in World Cup qualifiers, and you can imagine how sensational the whole country is. They are currently ranked 31st in the world and China, which is only 0.3 points apart. Although the actual gap may be even larger, it is also a fact that the Philippines' performance has recovered in recent years, especially after they chose naturalized players. Andre-Brache is the key figure in the Philippines. Brache, who signed a contract with the Philippine Basketball Association, is a pure "mercenary". He is extremely talented and has a lazy professional attitude but is still active in the professional league. In the 2010-2011 season, Brache, who was still playing in the Washington Wizards, averaged 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He ran away for money three years later and asked for it in CBA Xinjiang team. Brache is a controversial player who often returns to the field with a ten-month pregnant belly after the offseason. Even so, at the age of 33, he can still give 20.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.74 steals and 1.79 blocks in the CBA Tianjin team. The Philippines' naturalized Brache has also been around for five years. At the 2014 World Cup, his data of 21.2+13.8 has shocked everyone. Until now, he is still the undisputed cornerstone of the team. The second and third figures of the Philippines are local players Jason William and Terrence Romeo. The former is 32 years old and the latter is 27 years old. They are the core of the two new and old backcourts of the Philippines. William currently plays for domestic giant Philippine Telecom. He is only 1.78 meters tall, and his explosiveness and speed are excellent. Although he has never played in leagues outside the PBA, William has demonstrated his strength through Asian Cup and Asian Games . In the 2015 Asian Cup, he handed in 16.7 points and 2.6 assists with 51.9% + 46.7% + 85.0%, helping the Philippines to reach the finals. Unlike the tough "steel cannon" William, Romeo, 1.83 meters tall, has a very light weight and a smooth style. He is one of the best scorers in the PBA, and averages 25.4 points per game in the 2015-16 season. Due to William's existence, Romeo was placed in the sixth man for a long time. With his personal progress, his importance in the national team is no less than that of his predecessors. In the Asian Cup two years ago, Romeo, who averaged 17.8 points per game, was the Philippines' number one scorer. However, both players also have obvious flaws. As a point guard, William often focuses on personal scores, his passing ability is not good enough, and his personal height is also a natural shortcoming; Romeo's passing is a little better, but he can't fight against it, and his scoring efficiency in international competitions is low, and he is always criticized for being flashy. Of course, in addition to three muskets, the Philippines theoretically has cards to play. As a scorer who has gained a foothold in the NBA team, Jordan Clarkson has no need to say about his strength. In addition, he has always cared about the team, so it is not difficult for him to play in the World Cup. Pringer, the "Filipino Harden" who became famous in the Asian Games, also has good strength; the Filipino mixed-race and small forward Standadinger performed even more in the World Cup, but the Philippines currently lacks strong inside, so the priority option is Brache. The Philippines in the World Cup qualifiers were assigned to the "death group" with Australia, Japan and Iran. Their twists and turns, and the group fight with Australia made many of them banned. In the end, he ranked fourth in the group with 7 wins and 5 losses, and was a bit embarrassing.The Philippines won 2 wins and 4 losses in the six matches in the top three of the group. It is worth mentioning that both victories defeated Japan. When facing Iran, the Philippines lost 8 points at home and away; it was just a normal phenomenon to be beaten by Australia. Objectively speaking, they are now at the same level as Japan's Asian quasi-first team, not as good as China, Iran and South Korea. The "Trident" is still stable. The lazy Brache scored 16.0 points, 12.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists in eight World Cup qualifiers; William shot nearly 60% of his three-point shooting percentage, scoring 14.5 points and 3.0 assists; Romeo participated in the fight with Australia, and only played twice, scoring 10.0 points and 5.5 assists. It is worth mentioning that the Philippines national team is the team with the most frequent players changing, with as many as 32 people playing World Cup qualifiers for the national team. The team's lineup structure is not very stable and the team's tacit understanding is slightly low.
As the champion of the fifth Asian Cup and four Asian Games, the Philippines is considered first-class among Asian countries in terms of honors. But in fact, they have also experienced a long period of dormant. The 2013 Asian Cup win was the Philippines' podium again after 28 years. With this silver medal, they were able to return to the World Cup, a 36-year difference. As for the Olympics, the Philippines ranked fifth, but has never participated since the 1972 Munich Olympics. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as "family failure". In this World Cup, the Philippines, Angola, Italy and Serbia were in Group D. Objectively speaking, their hopes of qualifying were slim. Perhaps for the Philippines, it is a more realistic goal to avoid being at the bottom of the group stage and learning from world-class teams. Official account → (Qiucai Youdao Sports Lottery Alliance)
