REGARDLESS of the result of its much-awaited opening-day match against the Karl Anthony Towns-led Dominican Republic, the Philippines is expected to continue to play with a lot of pride and passion in the FIBA World Cup 2023.

The Filipinos will play against world No. 42 Angola on Sunday and world No. 10 Italy on Tuesday, both at the historic Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, to complete their Group A preliminary schedule

Two wins in three matches are what the Chot Reyes-mentored Fiipinos need to get past the first round of this 32-team competition being held in Asia for the second straight time.

If they’re lucky, the Filipinos will advance to the second round against the top two teams from Group B, which could either be heavyweight Serbia, Puerto Fico, South Sudan or Asian rival China.

A possible mouth-watering showdown between the Philippines and 2019 World Cup host China looms in the second round with possibly Asia’s lone ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics at stake.

But before thinking about China, the Philippines will have to worry about Dominican Republic, Angola and Italy first round.

After Anthony-Towns and world No. 23 Dominican Republic, the Filipinos will battle Angola and its NBA star Bruno Fernando of the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.

Known as the Black Antelopes, Angola is best remembered by local fans for handing the June Mar Fajardo-led Filipinos a heartbreaking 81-84 defeat in overtime during the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.

“The Philippines is a very athletic team compared to the past. A lot of guys that can shoot, excellent shooters. They have a beast like Clarkson that obviously is going to give a lot of 20-point games and all of these. He can shoot and he’s a scorer,” said Angola coach Pep Clarós during the introductory press conference at Smart Araneta Coliseum last Thursday.

Then comes Italy and Simone Fontecchio, a teammate of Clarkson at the Utah Jazz.

Former NBA players Luigi Datome and Nicolo Melli are also expected to provide experience for Italy, which served notice of its title aspirations by sweeping all its seven tune-up matches against fellow World Cup participants.

The Gianmarco Pozzecco-mentored

Italy won over Turkey (90-89), China (79-61), Serbia (89-88), Greece (74-70), Puerto Rico (98-65), Brazil (93-87) and New Zealand (88-81).