Harbour-RP five expects worst from host Indons

JAKARTA – Host Indonesia could well be the threat in the Harbour Centre-Philippine team’s quest in the 2007 SEABA Champions Cup here.

Coach Louie Alas, a member of the coaching staff of the RP team beaten by Indonesia for the regular SEABA championship here in 1997, said he knows for a fact that the Indons would resort to anything not to lose on home turf when they meet tomorrow.

The Nationals were playing the Malaysians at presstime last night.

"Being biased is understatement, they’re super biased," said Alas, among the deputies of head coach Dong Vergeire in the RP team in the 1997 championship in Surabaya.

Danny Ildefonso, Romel Adducul, Chris Cantonjos, Ralph Rivera, Dale Singson, Rensy Bajar and Richard Melencio were among the players of that national squad.

Ildefonso and Co., however, would exact revenge later in the year in the Jakarta SEA Games. They avoided a title clash with the Indons as they lost their last game in the eliminations to the Malaysians.

"They would get everything they could being the host team. You have to maul them right away to avoid their dirty tricks," said Alas.

The Indons, however, have remained a mystery here, making themselves scarce. The only thing Harbour Centre-RP team knows about the hosts is that they’re fielding an American and an Australian as imports.

The two teams play at 8 p.m. today (9 p.m. Manila time) at the Britama Arena.

"They don’t want to be scouted," said Harbour Centre-RP team head coach Junel Baculi. "They don’t want an early clash with the Philippines. Neither do they want a late duel with us. We will not be able to prepare against them since after seeing them play in their first game, we will meet them the following day," Baculi added.

The Malaysians and the Vietnamese could well be easy picking for the Nationals since they opted to play without imports, obviously in preparation for the regular SEABA joust in Thailand next month.

"We might play Julius Nwosu and Vidal Massiah for a few minutes against them," said Baculi.

But the Harbour Centre squad, a PBL selection, can’t avoid to lose here since it will cost the all-pro RP team a slot in the Asian Champions Cup in Tehran, Iran.

NOTES: Julius Nwosu took some time before being allowed entry here. Being a Nigerian, Nwosu was required to secure a visa, but immigration officials here wanted him to get the papers from Manila. Harbour Centre team manager Erick Arejola said they had been told in Manila that there would be no problem at the Jakarta airport. SEABA official helped Nwosu get in…Remember former UST star Udoy Belmonte? He’s followed the footstep of his father, becoming a PAL pilot. He was the first officer of the PAL flight that brought the Harbour Centre-RP team here.