JAKARTA – The Indonesian national basketball team is preparing to face Jordan. They were asked to perform better in the match.
Indonesia will meet Jordan in the second window of the FIBA World Cup Group C Qualification Asia zone on Saturday, February 27. The duel took place in Prince Hamza, Amman.
Before visiting Jordan, the Indonesian squad had already tasted defeat when they met Saudi Arabia on Thursday, February 24. In that match, Andakara Prastawa and his friends were beaten 95-66.
Assistant coach of the Indonesian national team Wahyu Widayat said that his team will maximize the short rest period as best as possible in order to get the most out of the field against Jordan. Moreover, this match is important for Indonesia.
"This match is also to measure our strength to face the FIBA Asia Cup later. So we have to play better than the match against Saudi Arabia," Wahyu said in an official statement.
In the FIBA Asia Cup in July, Indonesia is in Group A with Jordan. In the same group also joined Saudi Arabia and Australia.
The FIBA Asia Cup 2022 is very important for Indonesia because it could be the only path to appear in the FIBA World Cup next year. Indonesia can only hope from the FIBA Asia route to step into the FIBA World Cup after having difficulty competing through the qualification route due to three defeats.
Wahyu said that it was fortunate that the last defeat that his team received from Saudi Arabia did not destroy the players' fighting spirit. So far, his students are still enthusiastic and optimistic about the match against Jordan.
"Mentally there are no problems. Even though yesterday's performance was not as expected. To keep the players in the spirit, we did the routine that is usually done in the national team," he said.
Meanwhile, the assistant manager of the Indonesian national team, Ferri Jufry, believes that Jordan will find it difficult to tame the team made by Rojko Toroman. However, the players must be able to maintain a rhythm like in the first quarter against the Arabs.
"We can do a lot if we are able to maintain the game as in the first quarter against Saudi Arabia, when we meet Jordan later. We must admit, our current weakness is the player's fitness," he said.
The FIBA Asia Cup 2022 will be held in Indonesia from 12 to 24 July 2022. The championship which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic will take place at Istora, GBK, Senayan, Jakarta.
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