This is how Lauri Markkanen gets out of the army and joins the Susijeng – two basketball giants and a favorite of the home crowd in a rock-hard WC group

The Finnish men’s national basketball team had a hard luck in the World Cup group draw, as they will face Germany, Australia and one of the tournament hosts, Japan, in the World Cup to be played in August-September. The head coach Lassi Tuovi and assistant coach Hanno Möttölä they stated that Finland’s E group is even the toughest of the games in terms of games.

– Our group and then the Jakarta group with France, Latvia and Canada, Möttölä estimates. Lebanon also plays in the same H group.

Along with Tuov and Möttölä, the head of coaching of the Basketball Association is also on the same line Henrik Dettmannwho was on site in Manila to watch the draws.

– After all, there were a couple of blocks that I might not necessarily have wanted in advance – and wasn’t this another one of them, Dettmann stated, but said that he would accept the lottery result as it was given to Finland.

32 teams will play in the World Cup, in eight initial groups of four teams. Pools A, B, C and D will play in Manila, Philippines, Pools E and F in Okinawa, Japan and Pools G and H in Jakarta, Indonesia. Two teams from the initial group advance to the playoffs.

Finland will therefore receive two basketball giants and a great favorite of the home crowd. It is not an easy task for Susijeng to advance from the first group, but this goal is clear. According to Tuov, the team is in the position of a minor challenger, which suits it very well. Dettmann also agrees.

– We tend to play better basketball when the opponents are tough. If we stick to our ways, this will be good, Dettmann assured.

Both Tuovi and Möttölä remind us that Australia is a perennial winner of prestigious competitions, even though there were no medals before the Olympic bronze in Tokyo. 20 year old By Josh Giddey there are several such convincing NBA players on the team.

by Gordon Herbert coached by Germany, on the other hand, has shown recently that it is coming to the top battles with a new generation of players. The young players have emerged both in the NBA and in the European leagues, and last summer the team won bronze at the European Championships.

– It has two teams that will be full of highly trained NBA players. Both play together for the national team. That’s where egos don’t jump and don’t break their project, Möttölä estimates.

– There are two medal candidates, but let’s turn the situation around. I don’t think that Finland will be in the same group is a very pleasant idea for them either, Tuovi said.

All the countries in Finland’s group are familiar to Susijeng to the extent that the team has played against each of them at some point in recent years.

According to Tuov, Australia plays really good basketball and has been one of the most entertaining teams in the last tournament. According to Tuov, Germany with its wide material causes difficulties for any team. However, he believes that Finland’s style of play is also such that it causes problems for opponents, especially tactically.

Japan is one of the host countries, and before the Tokyo Olympics, Finland got to experience what kind of excitement Japan plays its home matches when it received an invitation to the four-nation tournament played in Okinawa. Group E is now played on the same island.

– In these tournaments, it always happens that someone gets excited, and there is a potential team for that, Tuovi said and told that the tournament a couple of years ago was a great experience.

– It’s great to be part of that event. And yes, I’m itching to see what happens at the end of next August.

Although Japan’s games in Tokyo ended with three defeats in the first group, Möttölä reminded that Japan should not be thought of as a throwing bag in the group.

– Last time I looked, Finland has one NBA player and Japan has two. It’s an extremely tough team that plays together. There are three really tough matches in Finland and the games will certainly cross paths, as always.

The Finnish team starts the camps for the World Championships in early summer, but the official camp starts at the end of July. I brought along the Finnish NBA star and currently in the army Lauri Markkanen is available to the national team.

– We believe that he is available as much as we require and need. That’s why it’s good that he has been able to start (the army) and march the marches out from under him, Tuovi said.