STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Euro 2020 squad will be subjected to stricter COVID-19 measures after two players, star forward Dejan Kulusevski and midfielder Mattias Svanberg tested positive, the Swedish FA said Wednesday.
“Since two players have now tested positive a meeting was held on Tuesday evening with the medical team and team coaches where different measures were discussed to limit the risk of a spread of the infection,” the association said in a statement published Tuesday.
A series of measures were adopted, including daily antigen tests and an increased number of PCR tests and indoor meetings will be held in smaller groups and in the biggest rooms available.
Time limits will also be set on players receiving treatment with sessions to be held outdoors if possible.
The squad, which already lost its star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to injury just weeks before the start of the tournament, hopes to avoid a further spread of the virus with less than a week to go before its opening match on Monday against Spain.
Juventus midfielder Kulusevski, who was the first player to test positive, will have to sit out the Spain match, while a second test result is still pending to confirm Svanberg’s infection.
Coach Janne Andersson said he hoped Kulusevski would recover in time for the team’s second match on June 18 against Slovakia.
According to UEFA rules, if a team is partially placed in quarantine or isolation, the match can go ahead as long as the team has at least 13 players including a goalkeeper.
UEFA can also reschedule a match within 48 hours, or relocate it.
If none of those options are possible, the team responsible for the cancelation of the match will be handed a 3-0 defeat.
Sweden does not plan to vaccinate its players for the Euro.
“It’s not fair that we would be vaccinated before everyone else,” coach Janne Andersson said Tuesday, referring to Sweden’s ongoing strategy of vaccinating people by descending age categories.
“I think it’s good that old and sick people go first,” team doctor Anders Valentin added.
So far only two players are fully vaccinated, one has received a first dose and several others have antibodies.
Sweden Euro squad tightens COVID-19 measures after two cases
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Sweden Euro squad tightens COVID-19 measures after two cases
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
