Koponen excited to be back with Susijengi
HELSINKI (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Petteri Koponen admits it's been a huge joy to be reunited with his Finland teammates ahead of the third window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers.
The Susijengi missed their veteran in the first four games, with the Finns getting two wins against Bulgaria but losing to the Czech Republic and Iceland. They will play at the Czechs on June 29 before returning to Helsinki to take on Iceland on July 2.
Coming off a strong season with Barcelona, Koponen is right now in training ahead of a June 21 warm-up game against Estonia in Helsinki.
Well look who’s in the house! 👀Welcome back to 🇫🇮 Petsku! 👊 #Susijengi #FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/c2OuVlrmU0
— Basket.fi (@basketfinland) June 18, 2018
"I'm always glad to come back to a familiar environment, to see all my good friends and ask them what's up," Koponen said.
While Koponen and his teammates are going to play the same modern, fast attacking game that has allowed them to climb up the FIBA World Ranking, presented by NIKE to No. 21, coach Henrik Dettmann has been adding some new wrinkles.
"I was a little surprised when we began to integrate new things in the first practice," Koponen said. "I'm certain we'll be able to develop within these first a couple days of practice."
Koponen averaged 13.2 points per game at FIBA EuroBasket 2017.
As for the friendly against Estonia in the Hartwall Arena on Thursday, Koponen said: "We're aiming to find a little bit of rhythm in the game against Estonia and be ready when the Qualifiers resume."Finnish fans will be excited to see Koponen in action, as well as Sasu Salin and Lauri Markkanen, stars that will be making their first appearances in the Qualifiers.
Susijengi continued training today, as the team gets ready to face Estonia in Tallinn tomorrow evening. Next Monday the teams will face off in Helsinki as we prepare for #FIBAWC qualifying games. #susijengi pic.twitter.com/RZvoXUcX4w
— Basket.fi (@basketfinland) June 20, 2018
In the clash with Estonia, they will also get a chance to have a look at two other players that have a bright future with the national team in Hannes Polla and Mikael Jantunen. Thursday's game against the Baltic side will be their first with the national team.
Heading into third window, the Finns (2-2) trail the Czech Republic (3-1) and Iceland (2-2) in Group F but area ahead of Bulgaria (1-3).
Finnish basketball could have a new attendance record on July 2 against Iceland with all 11,000 tickets made available in a pre-sale for the World Cup Qualifier snapped up. The arena has 2,000 seats in privately-owned Skyboxes. The current record number of spectators at a home game stands at 12,327.
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