Japan Vs Jamaica Friendly Match Canceled Due To COVID-19

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JAKARTA - The friendly match between the Japanese national football team against Jamaica had to be cancelled. Following 10 Jamaican players who were unable to board the plane due to problems with the COVID-19 test.

According to the Japanese Football Association (JFA), the Japanese national team will host Reggae Boyz in Sapporo. This friendly match became a warm-up for the World Cup qualifiers against Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

So far half the Jamaican squad arrived in Japan for the match. However, the other 10 players were suspended on connecting flights due to problems with the "pre-flight test method," the JFA said.

JFA chairman Kozo Tashima said the football body was investigating the incident. A number of foreign teams have arrived in Japan for international matches against the Japanese men's and women's teams this month.

"We have to be careful to make sure something like this doesn't happen again," Tashima told an online press briefing. "We seek the opinion of the experts and we analyze it and find out what the problem is."

The Jamaican team flew to Japan in two groups. One group flew from the US and the other from Europe.

Tashima said Jamaican players playing in Europe, mostly England, were prevented from boarding a transit flight in Amsterdam when their negative COVID-19 test certificates were not eligible.

Tashima said he did not know the exact problem, but Jamaica's Gleaner newspaper said the players used mouth and nostril swab tests, whereas Japan "only received PCR test results from the nostrils."

Japan began to move, which was marked by the arrival of foreign athletes. The Australian softball team became the first team to arrive for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this Tuesday morning.

They have all been vaccinated but are still required to have a negative test result before departing and arriving in Japan.