Susijeng’s head coach Lassi Tuovi acknowledged a worrying trend in this year’s World Cup games. Sasu Salin, on the other hand, admitted that Finland should have played smarter in the final period.
On the app and on the website, you can see live highlights of Susijeng’s matches and Lauri Markkanen’s matches at the World Championships. Finland will next face Germany on Tuesday, August 29. at 10:10 a.m. ‘s online World Championships are followed in this article.
OKINAWA.
In the corridors of the Okinawa arena, Japanese people are crying and shouting for joy. Almost every player of the Japanese national basketball team stops to chat with dozens of Japanese journalists who have arrived.
Japan has just taken a huge victory in the World Cup of Basketball. It has won the World Cup for the first time against a European country. This is Japan’s sixth World Cup, so victory has been long awaited. To the chagrin of the Finns, that opponent is Finland.
Finland lost to Japan 88–98. Finland already led the match with 18 points at its best, but Japan came through in the last period. Japan won the last period with as many points as 35–18.
Even the beginning of the match was difficult. The wolf gang was having trouble with Japan and was down 15-22 after the first period. In recent years, Susijengi has become known in value competitions for the fact that it comes really hard for the first episode.
In last year’s European Championships, only top countries Serbia and Croatia could win the first period against Finland. In the 2017 European Championships, only in the quarterfinals, Italy was tougher in the first period.
Now, however, Japan immediately punished Finland. After six minutes of play, Finland had five points and four losses.
Susigengi already seemed to be going their way in the second period when they got a hold of the game. However, a new collapse came in the fourth episode. Already in the opening game of the World Cup against Australia, Finland kept its game together, but a long black moment turned out to be fate. Australia roared to victory by 26 points.
Susijeng’s head coach Lassi Tuovi acknowledged a worrying trend in Finnish media interviews.
– Our bad moments drag on too long. We have to find ways to be able to play a full 40 minutes. The only way to help is to take the problem humbly in hand, Tuovi said.
According to the head coach, Susijengi broke apart as long as the team was aggressive. Japan came through, while Finland was content to throw jump throws.
– To be honest, concentration and discipline disappeared from all of us. We made some bad decisions. We thought the game was already over. You have to look in the mirror, Tuovi described.
According to Tuov, both the coaches and the players are responsible for cutting off weak moments.
– That can be helped with rotations or changing the fives, but the players can also help in the situation. They can create good throwing positions for each other. Momentum could turn with one performance, but at the moment we have to rally the opponent for too long, Tuovi stated.
I think every member of Susijeng’s team could do more at the moment.
– Leadership does not come from someone shouting and telling philosophy. We have to help each other. We have to put our chest on rattan, Tuovi said.
The captain of the wolf pack Sasu Salin believed that a weak start led to nervousness. About Susijeng’s end game, he uploaded direct words to the international media.
– We didn’t panic, but we played a bit stupidly. We played too fast. We lost the ball. We should have played smarter, Salin admitted.
If the Japanese players were emotional, the win was also a big deal for Japan’s US coach To Tom Hovasse.
– This was a crazy game. We were 18 points behind. The guys never gave up. We haven’t pitched well the last three or four games. This was a big win for us, Hovasse hesitated and struggled for words clearly in the middle of a big win.
He still saw a clear reason for the giant sensation.
– When you start hitting three-point shots, the opponent has to respect it. Then there will be room for us to use our speed. That’s part of our game plan. It just hasn’t worked until now only in the second half, Hovasse described.
Finland plays its last preliminary group game on Tuesday against Germany. The upper extension block and getting into the top 16 now remains a dream, but Susijengi still has a stake in the lower extension block as they fight for the Olympic qualification spot.
24 teams can qualify for the Olympic qualifiers: