Despite opening the MPL Philippines Season 16 with an impressive victory, Team Falcons has since struggled, suffering back-to-back sweeps that dropped them to the bottom of the standings.
Adding to their woes was a winless run in the playoffs of the IESF Southeast Asian qualifiers yesterday, where they fell to Cambodia (0-2) and Myanmar (0-1).
According to skipper Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel, the deflating loss to Cambodia carried over into their next match against TNC Pro Team.
“Tingin ko sa ngayon talaga medyo mababa pa yung morale ng team eh. Medyo disappointed pa sa pagkatalo kahapon. Fresh pa kasi sa’min yun eh. Lalo na qualifiers para sa IESF yun, kaya feeling ko nadala din talaga ngayong araw yung pagkatalo namin kahapon,” shared Pheww in an exclusive interview with Tiebreaker Times.
“Yung pagka-upset samin ng Cambodia, nadala namin na nanghihinayang pa rin kaya hindi namin mabigay yung full potential ngayong araw.”
Pheww admitted that the team grew emotional after failing to meet the expectations of fans who are used to seeing the Philippines dominate the MLBB scene in international tournaments.
“May mga emotional samin kasi sayang naman talaga eh. Nag-qualifiers tapos kami yung naging representative ng Pilipinas. Hindi namin na-fulfill yung trabaho namin na mag-qualify dun sa IESF World Championship,” he said.
After a week of struggles in both the MPL PH and the IESF qualifiers, the Falcons are treating these setbacks as a much-needed wake-up call, said Pheww.
“Kailangan namin mag-double effort talaga. Di namin pwedeng isabahala ulit sa chemistry namin na kami pa rin yung top kasi halatang-halata naman na mediocre na team na lang kami eh,” he admitted.
“Kaya kailangan talaga namin mag-double effort para mabalik yung laro namin.”
