With World Cup place at stake, Finland hand Russia the role of favorites but warn: ''We are wolves, we hunt as one''

PERM (Russia) - Jamar Wilson's heroics against France on Thursday kept Finland alive. But, knowing they need to defeat a FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Semi-Finalist away from home, they are happy to take the role of underdogs.

"Russia are definitely the favorites to win Sunday's game," head coach Henrik Dettmann said following the win at Espoo Metro Arena.

It's easy to sense that he is trying to play mind games with the Russians, because Finland are in a nothing-to-lose kind of situation. They can play relaxed and, if they carve out a three-point win , they'll be China-bound this summer.

"We will concentrate on our own game and scrap and claw our way in. We are wolves, we hunt as one," the Susijengi  playcaller elaborated on the game plan.

Russia won the first matchup by two points, 77-75, in Espoo in the fifth window of the Qualifiers. Dmitrii Kulagin sent the game to overtime tied at 68 and, with Russia leading in the added time, Finland have done a fine job to narrow the gap to two points, putting them in a good position ahead of the reversed fixture.

"It was really tough for us on the road in Finland, everybody saw that we were up by 12 at some point," Russia veteran guard Vitaly Fridzon recalled. "But Kulagin took leadership into his hands and brought us that important victory, we have to give him credit. As for Sunday,  we understand how huge is the responsibility on us. It's a do-or-die game, nothing else to say."

Usually, when a couple of neighbors meet, it's almost walking distance for the away team. But with Sunday's duel set in Perm, Finland have to board a five-hour long flight from Helsinki.

Fridzon and Russia already felt the packed house atmosphere of Perm
in a game against Bosnia and Herzegovina in February 2018

Russia forward Nikita Kurbanov said did not hide his excitement about the matchup.

"We know how great the crowd is here in Perm. This will give us extra power and extra motivation to perform well on Sunday. Finland is a very solid team, they are really tough, especially on defense, fans should see a great game on Sunday," he said.

Russia coach Sergey Bazarevich was happy to have Kurbanov and three other CSKA Moscow players join the camp ahead of "the most decisive game of the tournament," as he called it. But, he is all too aware that Finland also get some additional firepower compared to Thursday's roster, in the shape of Petteri Koponen, the very man who led them at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 in Spain.

"Finland will have Petteri Koponen, he's a great player, but it won't be easy for him to just come and play one game, even though he knows their system so well," Bazarevich warned as he spoke about the positives and the negatives of players joining the teams just days before the big games.

And this one is about as big as they get in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers. Russia at 7-4, Finland at 6-5, with all the other parts of equation already solved in Group K. If Russia win, they are through to the World Cup. If Finland win by 1 or 2 points, the Russians still advance. Should Finland win by 3 or more, then the pack of wolves will be flying to the Shenzhen draw on March 16.

The battle of Perm tips off at 14:00 CET on Sunday in a packed Molot Sports Hall. All tickets sold out days ago.

FIBA