Jordanian guard sends a message

MANILA, Philippines - The starting point-guard of the Jordanian couldn’t hide his disappointment with the way his team bowed out of the race for the slots to the 2014 World Championship in Spain.

“Now we are going down,” said Wesam Al Sous after his team suffered a crushing 50-94 loss to Iran yesterday in the quarterfinals of the 27th FIBA-Asia Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The loss meant that Jordan, which finished second to China in the 2011 FIBA-Asia in Wuhan, can only go for the best ranking possible.

Al Sous said Jordan, with problems hounding its basketball program, is not the same team as before.

“There is a big difference now between basketball in Iran and basketball in Jordan. We are trying to solve this problem but I guess it’s getting bigger and bigger,” he said.

His coach, Evangelos Alexandris of Greece, sat two seats away.

“In the Iranian league they put a lot of money and they have strong teams. So, I hope this message for the people of Jordan. I hope they can get the message and try to solve the problem in basketball in Jordan,” he said.

Against Iran, the Jordanians never had the chance. They trailed from start to finish. There was no deadlock and the lead never changed.

Iran posted its biggest lead of the game at 44 points. It was a massacre.

“If you want me to talk about today’s game there is nothing much as a player I can say. Me and my teammates we play very hard and our coach tried his best to prepare us for the game.

“We were not focusing,” said Al Sous who finished the game with three points, two assists, one rebound and two turnovers.

“We are sorry for the Jordanian fans. I’m disappointed with the result but that’s basketball. Tomorrow is a new day and we will try our best to get the best position we can,” he added.

He’s sorry but not really losing hope.