By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Finland made history by beating Croatia and qualifying for the quarterfinals of EuroBasket putting an end to a 55-year drought and making a whole basketball nation happy.
Petteri Koponen who has played with The Wolfpack since 2006 and led the team back to respectability, can finally be a part of the EuroBasket Top-8.
He expressed his emotion about this big achievement in the mixed zone after the game. “It was big. We’ve been in this situation many times. We took the next step and it was unbelievable”, the Finnish legend said about the 94-86 win over Croatia.
Asked about the next challenge with a tough opponent like Spain, he add “Spain got the golden generation and they changed a little bit the team, but they’re still great players. They showed Lithuania what they can do. It’s gonna be another fight, we go there to fight and everything is possible. Spain is a great team with a great coach, we will take that game like there’s no tomorrow”.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL