The wolf gang had an ugly meltdown at a Japanese karaoke party – Lauri Markkanen hardly wanted such an encounter with the basketball icon

Susijeng did not show the antics of a winning team in Okinawa, writes Roope Visuri of Urheilu.

You can see the highlights of Susijeng’s matches and Lauri Markkanen’s matches at the World Championships on the app and ‘s website. Finland will face Germany on Tuesday, August 29. at 10:10 a.m. ‘s online World Championships are followed in this article.

The World Cup of Basketball has seen a giant bang. From Finland’s point of view, that’s a bad thing. Even internationally, Susijengi, who has been raised as a possible surprise of the games in many evaluations, has stumbled against the home team Japan on the paradise island of Okinawa. Japan sensationally came from 18 points behind to win against Susijeng.

In the stands, several Japanese were in tears and held a huge mecca after the final buzzer. It only came to an end when the local announcer said that Japan had beaten a European country for the first time in the World Cup. Overall, victories have been a rare treat for Japan in the World Cup.

The previous one also came at the World Cup home games in 2006, when tiny Panama fell. The other teams knocked out by Japan are also quite far from the radius of current Finland: Senegal, Puerto Rico, Paraguay and Peru.

At the same time, Finland’s biggest star Lauri Markkanen walks to the sidelines. Extracts in the best places have followed Dirk Nowitzki. A legend of European basketball, to whom Markka has often been compared.

Markkanen shakes the German Nowitzki’s hand and leaves the arena. One can only imagine how Markkanen would have wanted that encounter to be completely different.

The karaoke party raised the decibels to a new level

To be honest, Finland has just experienced a harsh defeat. Japan was exactly the team that Finland had to beat in the group considered the toughest of the World Cup. Defeats to medal favorites Australia and Germany would not have been a surprise, but Japan needed a scrappy win.

What exactly has happened? Let’s fast-forward to the events from the stands of the Okinawa Arena.

The clock shows 8:47 left in the fourth period. Japan has risen to within seven points. Finland takes a timeout and tries to figure out the situation. The decibels just keep going up. The parties only get better when the event announcer announces the next program number. Together karaoke.

Unfortunately, I don’t understand anything other than people having fun. Thousands of people join the song, and after that the sound level doesn’t drop at least. Finland’s overtime does not bring results, but Japan continues to rise. Finland continues its attacks. Japan, on the other hand, seems to sink all the throws. The Japanese, who are significantly shorter, also constantly go for rebounds.

A few minutes later, Japan seems to make the impossible possible and gets past Susijeng. In general, Finland has been a special team to make such climbs, but now they get a taste of their own medicine.

The wolf gang can’t get their game on track at any point. The noise from the karaoke party just reaches you. When it’s 1:31 a.m., one of Japan’s characters Joshua Hawkinson gets to the free throw line. A tearful local lady is shown on the screen. It felt like being next to someone big. Hawkinson moves Japan to an eight-point lead, and Susijengi never gets up from this Japanese karaoke canvas.

The bet still exists

Even the beginning of the game looked terrible. In recent years, Finland has come to the championship matches ready, and has not been at a loss much since the opening round. Then there have been top countries, previously equal or weaker countries. In last year’s European Championships, Finland lost only against Serbia and Croatia after the first period. Even against Croatia by only one point. Finland also won that game.

Now Finland does rise from the losing rally of the first period, but loses the lead of no less than 18 points. Finland will not be seen in the top eight right after the World Cup, like the captain Sasu Salin had set his goal before the Games.

Finland’s performance was unruly and weak in every way. The most worrying thing about the situation was that the Australia game had already ended in discouraged sign language. Usually then the next game comes hard and significantly better than what we saw now. The weak period seemed to be over until Japan struck again. The moments seen now are not the making of a winning basketball team.

Japan, on the other hand, appeared quite ecstatic. The show reminded me of many matches in Finland in the last decade, when Susijengi has been able to bully and beat basketball giants with the support of their strong fan base.

The individual match was a disaster for the Finnish team, but from the team’s point of view, Susijeng still has a lot to save from Okinawa. Before the tournament, the Olympic qualification place had to be almost certain, because so many World Cup teams can participate in the 24-team qualification tournament. Even now, the Olympic qualification place is still in their own hands.

After Monday, we will also be wiser about the opponents in the lower extension group, but basically two of these teams will face each other: Georgia, Venezuela and Cape Verde. Countries that Susijengi should continue to overthrow with its current composition. An excellent place to wash your face.

Finland will face Germany in its last preliminary group game on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. You can find the highlights of Susijeng’s World Cup matches and Lauri Markkanen’s live in the app and on ‘s website.