Roosa Koskelo, the top libero playing in Germany, would have been ready to jump on the national team bandwagon near the European Championships, but this did not suit the team’s head coach Nikolas Buser.
The European Women’s Volleyball Championship will be played from August 15 to September 3 in Estonia, Belgium, Italy and Germany. shows all Finnish matches live on TV2 or Areena.
Finland’s work in the women’s volleyball EC final tournament in Tallinn starts today against Slovakia. Finland will go to the games with a team of fourteen people, which includes as many as five players without having played a first international match.
A few of Finland’s top players are missing from the list. One of them is libero Rosa Koskelo, who is already playing for the fifth year in the German Bundesliga team in Stuttgart. Koskelo won the German championship with his team in May. In addition, a central defender by Michaela Madsen and general player Emmi Riikilän the name is not found in the list.
Head coach of the national team By Nikolas Buser according to which the decision to leave Koskela was made by consensus.
– He stated in the winter that his team’s season will possibly continue until May and said that he needs rest after that start. It is completely understandable, says Buser.
Koskelo would have been available only in July, but this did not fit into the plans of the Swiss, who started as head coach in January.
– I want to get to know the players as well as possible, because I work with them for a longer period of time. He would have basically had one camp and practice match before the tournament, so we decided that he will not be in the national team.
“I didn’t want to take risks”
Koskelo says that he talked with Buser in February-March and could not yet say when he would be ready to join the team. Buser, on the other hand, would have liked all the players to be involved in the second camp at the latest.
– It was clear from the beginning that the coaching team wants a small group for the camp and to choose a competition team from it as soon as possible. It simply didn’t suit me, because I was still in Germany, with a long season behind me and a load on my body. I didn’t see any point in going to the camp completely tired, Koskelo states.
According to Koskelo, there was no drama involved in the decision.
– Buser was very fair and direct from the beginning that he wanted what he wanted and it simply didn’t suit me.
Koskela has had health challenges in the spring. A large cartilage damage has been found in his other knee.
– I didn’t want to risk the upcoming season with national team games. I have had a good time in Germany and I know what is expected of me. This is also where the salary is paid.
The 31-year-old Koskelo has only played in the 2019 European Championships. A professional career in volleyball would have maybe one or two years left.
– It would have been great to end my National Team career at these Games. Relatives and many Finnish fans would have come to watch. However, I am satisfied with the decision I made in the spring.
The organizing countries of the EC final tournament are Belgium, Italy, Estonia and Germany. There are 24 countries in the tournament and Estonia, the Netherlands, France, Slovakia and Spain play together with Finland in Group D.