Bradley's Ville Tahvanainen selected to play for the Finnish World Cup Senior National Team

[tornado]

This is a very high honor - the Finnish Senior National Team will compete this winter against Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
... and Ville is on the team..

https://www.eurohoops.net/en/fibawc/...d-cup-windows/
https://translate.google.com/transla...98&prev=search

These are the early qualifying games for the 2019 FIBA World Cup
https://www.talkbasket.net/33074-eur...-wc-qualifiers

[tornado]

The FIBA game Finland vs. Russia is this Friday, November 30 - the game will be played in Espoo, a suburb of Helsinki
Here is the link to the game info, lineups, box score
..the game can also be viewed live stream here - game starts at 11am here in Central Time
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...Finland-Russia

Russia's roster - they are big they have a 7-0 guy, then 6-10, then five 6-9 guys and four more 6-8 !!
Russia is ranked #12 in the world, Finland is ranked #21
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...ia#|tab=roster

Then on December 3 they play Bosnia & Herzegovinia - the B & H team is ranked by FIBA at #42 in the world
..also on live stream here - this game is played in Zenica in Bosnia & Herzegovinia & starts at 12 noon Central Time
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...govina-Finland

The Finland team site
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...s/team/Finland

and current Finland roster
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...nd#|tab=roster

Ville's own FIBA WORLD CUP page
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...le-Tahvanainen

the team from Netherlands has a Valparaiso kid, Shane Hammink

[wizard1]

How good is Villes English? Is language going to be a problem?
Wizard

[Da Coach]

How good is Villes English? Is language going to be a problem?
Wizard

I don't think there are any YouTube videos showing interviews with him speaking in English.
However, school kids in Finland start learning English in their 3rd grade and continue into high school. Finnish people are said to be among the best English-speakers in the world, other than people from the US and England. So I would guess his English is good.
The Netherlands has similar English education in their schools, and recall that Luuk van Bree spoke very good English when he arrived at Bradley.

Here is an article ranking the best English-speaking countries in the world, and both Finland and Netherlands are in the top 4
Finland Places Among the Top Four English-Speaking Countries in the World

https://finlandtoday.fi/finland-places-among-the-top-four-english-speaking-countries-in-the-world/