TIANJIN, China — While he expects a tough game, Serbian mentor Rajko Toroman feels the Powerade-Team Pilipinas stands a good chance of pulling an upset win over one of the Middle East powers in Jordan when they clash in their knockout quarterfinals series in the FIBA-Asia Championship on Friday at the Tianjin Gymnasium here.

“They’re up for a tough assignment,” said the 54-year-old Toroman, project director of the Smart-Gilas national developmental pool who is here to scout opponents for future international events.

“I expect a tough game. They (Nationals) can be competitive if they continue to shoot like they are shooting the last three games. I think they have the chance,” Toroman added.

The Philippines arranged a quarterfinal meeting against Jordan after finishing the second round with a 3-2 win-loss card by beating Kuwait, 85-71, Wednesday.

The Jordanians lost to host powerhouse China, 83-89, also the other day to finish with a 4-1 record and the second seeding from the C-D bracket. They are favored against the Nationals, the third seeded team from the A-B group.

Also facing in the knockout quarters are Iran (5-0) versus Qatar (2-3), Korea (4-1) against Lebanon (3-2) and China (5-0) opposite Chinese Taipei (2-3).

The winners will advance to the semifinals. The top three teams earn outright seats in next year’s World Championship in Turkey.

The Yeng Guiao-mentored RP team will have its hand full against Jordan’s style of run-and-gun led by the 6-foot-4 playmaker Rasheim Wright, who had 28 points against China.

However, Toroman is convinced the Nationals can match up well with Jordan’s running game.

“Jordan is very strong, good coach (Mario Palma), good system, very tough,” Toroman said. “But they’re still not unbeatable. In a good day, Philippine players, they can do something.”

“The disadvantage of Philippines is not (having) experience in this kind of games. They have a lot of problems with officiating. Every quarter they are coming in a fifth minute in penalty.

But there are some things where they can make adjustment and still have chances to go to semifinals,” he added.

“It’s better to play Jordan than China, they don’t have a chance against China. But against Jordan they have a chance.”