BuzzerBeater Forums

The situation heading into the final round of Pool E was that the Philippines and Australia were 1st and 2nd in the group respectively, each sitting on a 3-1 record with only 3 PD separating them. Australia were to play Nippon (0-4 in the 2nd round), whilst the Philippines had Malaysia (1-3), and 1st would pretty much be decided by whichever team won by more, unless something crazy happened and one of them suffered and upset loss. Which wasn't as unlikely as you'd think; with Nippon and Malaysia both out of the running and now playing for pride, one would assume that they would both use Crunch Time in what would be their final competitive game for the season. Nippon did just that, giving Australia quite a challenge, even if they ended up losing because their manager, with no offence intended, doesn't seem to know how to use the GDP feature right.

But Malaysia? They apparently TIE'D their last competitive game of the season when they had absolutely nothing to gain from doing so; (27772)

Worse still, when I tried to question them about this decision, their national coach gave me a response that essentially meant '**** OFF!', which doesn't help his/her case one bit. It makes me believe that there may have been some kind of agreement in place between the Philippines and Malaysia for this game. In hindsight, it doesn't seem to have benefited the Philippines, as they now have to face China of all teams, but I'd like to know what could've possibly been going through the Malaysian coaches head when he decided to TIE this game, if it wasn't some kind of agreement...

Last edited by Jay (OTT) at 3/24/2014 3:11:41 PM

This has been addressed and talked about a little bit on the U21 NT forums. This is what the manager had to say when Australia's U21 NT manager sort of poked fun at him:

the "correct thing" is what me and my community choose to do for our NT.

I apologise if it doesn't coincide with what yours wants, but it was a choice that my country men and I elected to go with.

I am not, however, sorry for whatever -funny going ons- you perceive, I assure you Australia had nothing to do with our discussions or decision. Nor am I apologising for our choice of tactics, they were ours to choose and decide.

Like I said, good luck in your coming games.

Cheers.

Then when I said I was curious as to why they did not play CT, this was his reply:

Like I said, it was not a choice we made to affect Australia at all. And while it is regrettable that it did, I stand by our community's right to decide what enthu to use for a game.

We did not throw the game by sending scrubs - which would have been the obvious choice if we wanted to cheat Australia and conspire to push the Philippines to the top. Truth is, it never crossed our minds that the top standings for the teams would be affected.

As to the reasoning behind it, I do not feel compelled to answer anyone. Firstly, it would reveal the Philippines' enthu and secondly, it was our team's and community's choice to make in the first place.

He claims that they were not trying to throw the game, nor did they even think about other teams that may be effected, but it is certainly a strange way to end their season.

Sorry mate. I really don't like the accusation of game fixing you are throwing at us. Both our squads have a friendly "hate and love" in our U21 matches over the years. As a previous U21 manager of the Philippines and a staff of previous U21 teams I've seen how Australia and Philippines won against each other when it mattered most. After a friendly "trash talk" in chat during the matches every match both sides (Aussies and Filipinos) shake hands and congratulate each other for a job well done. Please don't ruin that wonderful relationship ingame by saying there was a match fixing if you do not have definite proof. Have some respect please. It's only a game.

If someone from our side would say there is a game fixing between teams publicly I would be the first to chide them for saying that. Sportsmanship is still the best win or lose. If you can prove that there was indeed game fixing. I will be the first to write a public apology here in the global forums for our side. Good day all.

Thank you for trying to clear things up. That's a lot better treatment than I got from the Malaysian U21 manager... who's adamant refusal to explain his actions properly is only incriminating him further methinks.

Has the Philippines U21 manager said anything everyone?

Last edited by Jay (OTT) at 3/25/2014 4:57:56 AM

Are all Malaysians like this? I get the slightest bit uppity about your teams questionable levels of effort at the end of the tournament, and you guys jump on me like I've killed your pet cat or something.

For the record, Simply Vince's initial reply to my suspicions was way too aggressive in my opinion. Here's the thread, if a neutral party wants to judge for themselves;

(256019.1)

PS: I believe that the Philippines faced TIE x 3 and Normal x 2 throughout Pool E. Australia? TIE x 1, Normal x 3, CT x 1. And yet you're implying that it wouldn't have been 'fair' to replace that last TIE with a CT, especially when you guys had no more competitive games this season?

Last edited by Jay (OTT) at 3/25/2014 9:48:54 AM

He took the semi-joking post as a declaration of war. Semi-joking as in, I thought it was obvious that I was exaggerating my true feelings from the fact that I typed the final word in ALL CAPS and used 3, count them, 3, exclamation points at the end, hence hinting that I wasn't seriously calling it a conspiracy, but still wanted an explanation as to why you would TIE with no more competitive games to use that extra enthusiasm on. And for the record, I said fudge. Big difference.

I only started calling him names when it was clear that not only would he give me the time of day, but he was also going to treat me like his own personal toilet and s*** all over me.

Whether there was match fixing going on or not, you're not gaining anything by fighting. Just because someone insulted you, doesn't mean you have to insult him back; you can't fight fire with fire.
Remember that this is just a game.