Sibol MLBB falls to Indonesia in huge Asian Games quarterfinal upset - GMA Network

Sibol Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s Asian Games medal hopes came crashing down in the quarterfinals as Indonesia pulled off a stunning 2-1 upset to send the Philippines out of the medal race on Wednesday in Japan.

The Philippines, one of the world’s leading MLBB nations, bowed out of the tournament while Indonesia secured at least a bronze medal after booking a spot in the semifinals.

The Philippines fell behind early but roared back to take the second game and force a decider, only for Indonesia to regain control in the third and complete the upset.

The Cecilion-Carmilla combination of midlaner Dalvin Putra and roamer Alexandre Buhe in Game 1 made life difficult for Sibol's own midlaner in Alston Pabico (Eudora), who suffered three deaths early on.

Sibol kept the game close through the first two Lord sieges, matching Indonesia in gold and fending off wave after wave of pressure. But the third Lord proved to be the breaking point as Indonesia wiped out four Sibol players and left only Karl Nepomuceno (Nolan) standing in the way of the base.

However, the Filipinos flipped the script in Game 2 despite falling into an early 0-3 hole in the opening two minutes.

A perfect setup from Sanford Vinuya’s Sora paved the way for Teddy Viana (Bruno) to secure a double kill in the final team clash, before Nepomuceno (Suyou) picked off Syauki Sumarno’s Uranus to seal the game and force a winner-take-all Game 3.

But when it came down to the decider, Indonesia had the answers.

The Indonesians’ double-fighter setup of Putra’s Aulus and Buhe’s Badang, alongside Sumarno’s Lukas, proved too much for Sibol as the Filipinos struggled to find an opening and failed to secure a single objective throughout the game.

An 11,000-gold deficit only compounded Sibol’s woes, with Indonesia completing the upset and sending the Philippines packing in one of the tournament’s biggest surprises.