Blatche sits and awaits Guiao’s call

His phone hasn’t rung yet. But the Philippines’ naturalized player Andray Blatche is right by it and ready to answer when national team duty calls.

In a social media post, Blatche expressed Monday his excitement to suit up again for the Philippines in the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers which the country will host this month.

“War ready waiting on that phone call on these two upcoming games,” wrote Blatche in his caption of a photo collage on his Instagram account @ draylive.

Blatche is serving a three-game suspension handed down by FIBA for his role in a July 2 bench-clearing brawl against Australia during the third window of the WC qualifiers at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

The 6-foot-11 Blatche served two of those sanctions when the national team fell short against Iran 81-73 in Tehran last September 13, and in a 9281 triumph over Qatar four days later at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Blatche will complete his sentence when the Philippines hosts Kazakhstan on November 30, but will be available when the Nationals take on Iran on December 3. Both games will be played at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The two games are crucial as the national team tries to improve its third place ranking in Group F with a 5-3 win-loss card behind Australia (7-1) and Iran (6-2). At fourth is Japan (4-4) followed by Kazakhstan (3-5) and Qatar (2-6).

The PH squad will resume its training in two weeks under coach Yeng Guiao, who has already mentioned that Blatche will be part of the national pool from which the final roster for the next two windows will be selected.