The young SIBOL squad can still hold their heads high as they held their own against international competition.
Malaysia continues their international winning streak as they take down former champions the Philippines to become the new IESF WEC 2024 MLBB champions.
Composed mostly of the Selangor Red Giants, the winners of this year’s Mid Season Cup, team Malaysia swept the Philippines 2-0 to add another trophy to their growing collection.
Team SIBOL this year was made up of players from RRQ Kaito, season three champions of the MLBB Developmental League Philippines and the only ones to achieve a perfect season. Bolstering them are Falcons AP.Bren coach Francis “Ducky” Glindro and Michael “KyleTzy” Sayson, members of last year’s championship team.
Things were looking real good for team SIBOL as they were off to a great start in the group stages. Not only did they finish top of their group, they managed to take down Malaysia 2-1 to get there. This boded well for the team as it meant that they could go toe-to-toe with some of the world’s best.
It continued to be smooth sailing for the Philippines as they 2-0’d their way to the grand finals against Argentina and Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, Malaysia proved why they’re the MSC champs by learning from their mistakes and adjusting appropriately.
Despite all their momentum, the Philippines couldn’t match Malaysia’s experience, making way for a new IESF WEC 2024 MLBB champion.
Proving the Doubters Wrong
“I wish we could have done better because natalo namin [yung Malaysia] sa group stage,” said head coach Jian “Pauloxpert” Munsayac during an interview with the media. “We knew that they were going to adjust their draft, kasi grand finals na.”
He praised Malaysia’s head coach and fellow Pinoy Michael “Arcadia” Bocado for his expert drafting which corrected Malaysia’s mistakes. “I wish it could have been closer but we still received the silver at nakarating kami sa grand finals.”
When asked if he thinks the team struggled with adapting to the international level of play, coach Pauloxpert does not believe that’s where the team fell short. “It’s nothing new, to be honest. Malakas din yung nakaka-practice namin so hindi naman sila nabigla.”
He mentions that the team trains with MPL teams so he knew that they were ready for the international stage. “I would say that it’s more na hawak nila yung responsibility ng pangalan ng Pilipinas. That’s what we’re playing for so yung pressure talaga is what really changed on the IESF stage.”
Still, an MDL team making it to the grand finals of an international tournament is no mean feat. Even if they didn’t win the gold, coach Pauloxpert believes that they achieved their main goal in the end.
“We wanted to prove the doubters wrong. Kasi sabi nga ng mga tao, we’re just an MDL team. Nobody expected us to make it to the grand finals in the first place. I’m very proud of the boys and what they’ve accomplished.”
Banner photo from SIBOL.