At 11 o’clock on Friday, local time, (04.00, Swedish time), Sweden and Canada kick off the Olympic final in football at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.
For the players, it means a tough challenge given the heat that prevails in the Japanese capital – and in the Swedish camp, they are critical of the kick-off time.
– It’s a strange time. I have a hard time seeing that a men’s team would be forced to play at 11 in the morning. It’s sad that it should be so, I do not know who decided it but I hope it will be better in the future, said Hanna Glas after the semifinal victory against Australia.
Sweden’s team captain, midfielder Caroline Seger, also thinks it’s a strange match time for an Olympic final. It is adapted for an American television audience, she says.
– It was probably just because the USA would be in the final. So it feels a little sad that you go after their time. It would have been appreciated if they could change that, but they probably will not. But that’s just to accept. And to prepare for the fact that it will be early and it will be hot.
Discovery are also dissatisfied and have submitted requests that the match should be postponed.
– Of course it’s a bad time. Unfortunately, we have nothing to do with the scheduling, but we are just as dissatisfied as the players, says communications director Jessica Linnman to Aftonbladet.
That it would be obeyed However, the broadcasting company has no great hopes. Nor has the Swedish Football Association, which together with the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) and the Canadian Football Association has sent a letter to the international football association Fifa and to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the match moved to later the same day.
– We have asked to play later in the afternoon but have not been more specific than that. We want to move it from the hottest opportunity during the day and try to push it as far as possible, says Marika Domanski Lyfors, the association’s national team manager on the women’s side.
How do you see the possibilities of getting through a move?
– One always hopes and hope is the last thing that abandons one. It was the same when we worked to use our reserves, where they were flexible and we finally got through a decision. So we do not give up hope but I think we will play at eleven on Friday.
Men’s soccer final in the Olympics will be decided at 20.30, local time, on Saturday. However, that match will be played at Yokohama Stadium, unlike the ladies whose final will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, where athletics will take place later on Friday.
How do you see yourself playing in the same arena as athletics?
– I think it’s pretty cool that we get to play at the Olympic Stadium. It’s the only match that goes there, so in that way I think it’s cool and fun, says Domanski Lyfors.
Read more:
Final 04.00 Swedish time: “Well believed in the USA”
Sweden to the Olympic final – has a gold position after 1-0 against Australia
Lindahl: “If we win, I can finally stop”
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