The women's volleyball team overwhelmed the hosts with a lopsided win, anyway.
Cambodia felt just like home court for the Philippine women's national volleyball team.
Many of them were fans of Alyssa Valdez, who cheered The Phenom on even if she did not enter the court in the national team's sweep of the young Cambodians, 25-5, 25-5, 25-5, on Tuesday night.
So, is Valdez still bothered by her knee injury? Coach Jorge Edson Souza De Brito delivered some good news that may just pacify the worries of supporters.
"She has a lot of training this morning! I almost killed her," the coach joked to One Sports' Denise Tan on Tuesday night.
"She's doing hard training. When we need her, she's ready."
Valdez, for her part, is staying ready for a call-up.
"Really doing my best to give 100% 'pag tinawag ni coach. We're really trusting his system," she said.
The Filipina spikers easily took care of business against the host country, as De Brito didn't even have to call a timeout.
"We are playing good and committed. That's why it has become easy," the coach said.
Perhaps another reason for their stellar play is the outpouring of support from Filipino fans, even when they're in foreign land.
Valdez even said they did not expect the surge of fans, who swarmed the players heading to the locker room.
"We really thought it was Cambodian fans and we didn't know lahat pala Filipino," she gushed. "So we're very, very overwhelmed by the support of all the Filipino fans here in Cambodia."
"More reasons, motivation to keep fighting these games."
The Philippines will play Vietnam next on Wednesday, and De Brito says they are prepared to face the 2021 SEA Games silver medalist. He expressed hopes that the strong Filipno crowd support will become a factor.
"I expect they will come and put pressure, push us to the finals," he said.
Catch that match on Wednesday at 6 p.m. live on One Sports.
(With reports from Denise Tan, One Sports)
(GM)