Indonesia and Thailand ''are going to present us problems'' says Dickel

MANILA (Philippines) - The Philippines will be playing in the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers with a bit of a different look. Not only will there be new faces to potentially make their senior national team debut, but they will also have a new head coach laying out the tactics in Mark Dickel.

"It’s a huge honor, " Dickel said in an interview with Reuben Terrado of Spin.PH. "I’m thankful to get the opportunity now."
The 43-year-old had a lengthy career as a point guard nearly all over the world, including 2 Olympics appearances and 2 World Cup appearances. He then took on a career in coaching in the early 2010s, also seeing time as head coach of the Albanian national team.

Dickel was coaching in the professional ranks of the Philippines with TNT Katropa since 2018 before getting the opportunity with “Gilas Pilipinas” at the Asia Cup Qualifiers following the departure of Yeng Guiao.

"A little bit happy, you know, like a little bit not shocked, but you know, surprised because you want to think you can get a job like that, but it's another thing until you actually get it," Dickel told reporters in an interview at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center on January 30 as per ESPN5.

"I'm just excited, you know, the opportunity and to coach a whole lot of players that maybe I haven't had the chance to be around and learn how they play better."

In the 24-player pool announced by the Philippines, national team regulars like Matthew Wright, Marc Pingris, and Troy Rosario were named. However, a number of relatively new promising prospects were named as well from Kiefer Ravena and CJ Perez to Ray Parks.

"It’s exciting, " Dickel said. "[There is] a lot of experience with a lot of players have played on the national team before. Then a lot of players we’re looking at to play in 2020 on the national team."

"Super talented players. We’ve got more than enough to play well. I’m just excited about getting started."

With many changes from coaching staff to the players selected, it’s no surprise that the faithful Filipino fans have some concerns about the games in this upcoming window. The Philippines will be hosting Thailand on 20 February at the Smart Araneta Coliseum before traveling to Jakarta to play Indonesia on 23 February. Both opposing teams are expected to play with a squad similar to those used at the recent Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Manila.

Dickel will be using that recent batch of information to prepare his team.

"I’ve been looking at the film a lot on the teams, obviously from the SEA Games," he said. "That was pretty recent. I saw those games. I went and watched them and obviously watched them a few times on film.”

The Philippines went away with the gold medal in the SEA Games, beating Indonesia 97-70 in the Semi-finals and Thailand 115-81 in the title game. However, it will mostly be a new group of players for the Philippines and victory won’t come easy.

Nonetheless, Dickel is confident of the odds for his team.

“Both of them are well organized,” praised Dickel of Indonesia and Thailand. “They are going to present us problems, especially if we don’t lock in defensively. But if we play defense and the guys share the ball, we should be fine.”

FIBA