After the match against the Czech Republic, great sportsmanship was seen when Jan Vesely and Lauri Markkanen, who were hot on the field, met in front of the media, writes Urheilu’s Roope Visuri.
PRAGUE. European Championships 2011, Lithuania. Finland softened Bosnia-Herzegovina after the crushing defeat by Greece. European Championships 2013, Slovenia. Italy upset Finland, but Susijengi grabbed a legendary double overtime victory over Russia.
World Cup 2014, Spain. Susigengi got its first and so far only victory in the history of the World Cup when Ukraine was defeated after the smashing party organized by the United States.
European Championships 2015, France. Bosnia-Herzegovina got to experience Susijeng’s boredom again after the crushing defeat. At that time, Finland had bowed to Israel.
Now the 2022 European Championships in Prague and the collapse of the Czech Republic can be added to the same book. Finland won 98–88 and secured its place in the playoffs.
From Susijeng’s point of view, the best thing is that this time there were eight first-timers in the European Championship. For them, the Czech match was the biggest test at the national team level so far. The bet was clear: With a loss, the European Championships would end in the first group. A three-point win would secure the next place and the struggle for a good position in the next games would still exist.
From the hero department Sasu Salin after the match, I summed up the contribution perfectly: It would have been a disappointment and a shock for him if the European Championships had ended in the first group. After all, Susijengi has made it to the playoffs every time in its European championship streak that started in 2011. That streak continues now with new faces. Now it was still an extra bonus that the national team legends were playing Shawn Huff and Petteri Koponen the last games of his career.
Susijeng’s first-time guard did great. Mikael Jantunen went to scratch important offensive rebounds right at the beginning of the match and was speeding Susijeng to a great start, From Elias Valtos we saw an elegant and balanced presentation. Henri Kantonen registered as much as +14 in the plus-minus statistic when the playing time came to 15 minutes.
Everything was crowned by the wonderful successes of Susijeng’s star duo Salini and Markkanen. Neither of them really startled the settings of the game. Both played the best games of their national team careers. As a seal, Markkanen’s wonderful alley-oop donk from Salini’s pass at the end of the game. After that, the Finnish supporters were able to silence the Czech fans in the Prague arena one last time.
Finland won 98–88 and advanced to the playoffs.
A great moment between Markkanen and Vesely
The pressure and pressure in the Prague Arena was quite high, although Susijeng’s fans gave their all again and maybe even improved their performance themselves. The Czech Republic played extremely hard, and Finland didn’t back down either.
As many as 56 fouls were called in the match. The atmosphere was sometimes very fiery. Glances were exchanged between the players several times as they poked fun at each other with their performances.
The biggest topic of conversation was Lauri Markkanen and for the sake of the Czech Republic Jan Veselyn pug Vesely would slap Markkas in the face, after which Markkanen and Vesely had a heated conversation.
During the game, Vesely tried to curb Markkanen’s brawling, but was unsuccessful. The result is a handsome 34 points for the Finnish star and an early shower command for Vesely after five mistakes.
After the game, despite the hard fight, great sportsmanship was seen. Vesely, who also played three seasons in the NBA and was the 2019 Euroleague MVP, was praising Markkas right in the interview area, when the Finnish star came to shake Vesely’s hand and praise him for a good game.
– An incredible and skilled player. I’m happy for him and all the best for him, Vesely said after Markkanen’s greetings.
Finland meets Holland on Thursday at 15:00. Live broadcast on TV2 and Areena at 14:40.