GIVEN the top caliber foes they will be up against, national coach Apol Rosales has urged the youthful Blu Boys to treat every game like a championship match when they see action in the 17th WSBC Men’s Softball World Cup on Nov. 26 to Dec. 4 in Auckland, New Zealand.
“Kung baga, walang itulak kabigin ang magiging mga kalaban kaya sabi ko sa kanila na ang bawat laban namin dapat championship match ang iniisip nila,” Rosales said yesterday in the Philippine Sportswriters Association online forum.
At No. 21, the Blu Boys are the lowest-ranked squad in the 12-nation competition and are bracketed in Group A with top-ranked defending champion Argentina, Czechoslovakia (No. 5), host and six-time world champion New Zealand (No. 6), US (No. 7) and Cuba (No. 12).
Group B is composed of Japan (No. 2), Canada (No. 3), Australia (No. 4), Venezuela (No. 9) and South Africa (No. 11).
The Blu Boys made it to the Auckland tilt by finishing second to the Japanese in the Asian Cup in Kochi, Japan last month.
Now that they’re in the big stage, Rosales said he expects his team to bring its A-game.
“We will treat every game as if it’s a championship game,” he said during the public sports program presented by San Miguel Corp., Milo, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Amelie Hotel Manila, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
