Nexplay EVOS suffered an unfortunate defeat on Sunday night after failing to arrive on time in its week four match-up against ECHO in the MPL Philippines Season Nine regular season.
With the no-show, ECHO, the top-ranked team as of the moment, gained an automatic 2-0 win via default.
So, what really happened with Nexplay EVOS?
According to head coach John “Zico” Dizon, the team was stuck in traffic for five hours. The Nexplay EVOS boot camp is located in Pampanga while the MPL venue is in Metro Manila.
“Limang oras na kami nasa byahe p*** umay,” Zico told ONIC PH skipper Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy via Twitter after the latter asked the former what happened.
Based on Setsuna “Akosi Dogie” Ignacio’s ‘BAKIT HINDI NAGLARO SI H2WO AT RENEJAY’ Youtube vlog which was posted around 7:00 PM, the team was still in the boot camp before 5:00 PM.
In a portion of the vlog, a computer behind Dogie — who was explaining why Renejay “RENEJAY” Barcarse and John Paul “H2wo” Salonga will not play in the series against ECHO — showed that the team was still in Pampanga at exactly 4:19 PM.
Players such as Jeniel “YellyHaze” Bata-anon, Michael “MP the King” Endino, and Rainiel “URESHIII” Logronio were seen in the vlog. Dogie also called out roamer Kenneth “CADENZA” Castro — who is still inside the bathroom at the time.
Later in the evening, Nexplay released a statement stating that the team suffered vehicular problems on their way to Manila.
“Today, we did the same but we encountered a series of unfortunate events.
“Our team left our bootcamp in Angeles City, Pampanga with the normal four hours allowance time from our match schedule. On the way, the trip was delayed by a flat tire and it took around one hour before help came. We continued to NLEX where we experienced unexpected heavy traffic which led us to arrive much later than expected at the venue for our most awaited match with ECHO Philippines,” read the statement.
“Our team usually arrives at the venue every game approximately two hours before our matches. As much as we would like to comply with the rules and guidelines of the league in terms of schedule, the unfavorable circumstances earlier were beyond our control,” it continued.
According to MPL Philippines’ Operating Committee, Nexplay EVOS failed to arrive at the venue as of 8:33 PM.
ECHO solidified its hold of the top spot after upping its tally to 18 points through a 6-1 standing while Nexplay EVOS dropped to 4-3 with 11 points but remained at the fourth spot.
Apologetic is Nexplay for the inconvenience they caused.
“We sincerely apologize to the league operations of MPL Philippines, to the fans and supporters of Nexplay EVOS, as well as to the ML community who waited for our game. This is by no means an excuse for us and we would like you to know that we will always strive to deliver our best in every game,” the statement read.
“We will do our best to avoid these kinds of potential issues in the future. We are humbly asking for your utmost understanding.”
