Perlas tests mettle of Pinoy-coached Vietnam

MALACCA, MALAYSIA — After breezing past Singapore in the opening game, Perlas Pilipinas will take on another interesting foe in Vietnam in the continuation of the SEABA Women’s Championship at the Bukit Serindit Indoor Stadium here today.

The Filipinas will face the Vietnamese at 6 p.m.

Vietnam is now being coached by Filipino mentor Jojo Castillo, who also credited for the tremendous progress of the Ho Chi Minh’s under-19 team.

Although he considers his team as a work in progress, Mr. Castillo has a modest goal for his squad, whose main objective is make some improvement from the previous campaign it had.

“This team failed to win a single game in the SEA Games last year,” Mr. Castillo told BusinessWorld in an interview. “So our objective is to improve our previous placing and gain more experience.”

Playing the Philippines, according to Mr. Castillo, is something he looks forward to knowing the kind of learning they will receive from one of the considered powerhouse squads in the region.

“That’s the reason why I brought the under-19 team to Manila because I know we can gain experience and become more competitive playing against the best teams,” he added .

For the Philippines, playing Vietnam is an opportunity to help out its brother who is transferring Pinoy technology in this so- called football nation.

But the Blackwater Womenbacked Perlas Pilipinas squad has business to take care of. Pending the result of its match against Laos ( which is still being played as of press time), the Filipinas are looking for another win that would boost their confidence once they play crack teams from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

“We need to win and improve every game. We want to be in our tip-top condition once we play teams like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand,” said Perlas Pilipinas coach Patrick Aquino.

In their opening game against Singapore, the Philippines fell behind early, allowing its rival to jump to a 6-0 lead. The Filipinas had to settle for an 18- all standoff by the end of the first period before their defense started to pick up and turn a shaky start into a rout, winning 69-43.