2020 Tokyo Olympics - general discussion

Discussion in '2020 Women's Olympics Soccer' started by shlj, May 3, 2018.

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  1. Every Four Years

    May 16, 2015
    Miramar, Florida
    Nat'l Team:
    India
    #201 Every Four Years, Apr 21, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2021
    Couldn't think of a worse country to host the Olympics in during the middle of a global pandemic.

    Mildly amusing that two of the most disastrous events in modern world history have coincided with Olympics scheduled to be held in Japan. The 1940 one of course had to be cancelled in part because of Japan's own actions. Only the 1964 one took place under normal circumstances. If I were superstitious, I would say we should stop awarding Olympics to Japan. :cautious:
     
  2. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Japan was also host of the Olympic Winter Games 1972 in Sapporo and 1998 in Nagano.
     
  3. Every Four Years

    May 16, 2015
    Miramar, Florida
    Nat'l Team:
    India
    Ah yes, I was only thinking about the Summer Games.
     
  4. West Ender

    West Ender Member

    Dec 28, 2020
    Southwest
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And not enough people are talking about it. Definitely looks to be an exciting Olympics... if it doesn't get canceled, that is.
     
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  5. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Well I think most people aren't talking about this group stage as being anything special because... it's old hat and honestly not that consequential.

    Every Olympics usually has most of the top 10 crammed into just 3 groups, so it's entirely normal for the groups to always look as stacked as they do. This year isn't really any wilder than any past year in that sense.

    Then, since it's only 12 team vying for 8 knockout spots, the question of who actually advances is almost never a question. Like, literally, ever since expanding to 12 teams, none of the three lowest-ranked teams has ever qualified for the QFs. That means eight of the nine teams you expect to advance do so. Exactly who gets paired with who in the QFs can be a bit of a shuffle, but per the previous point, it always has been. So... *shrugs*
     
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  6. West Ender

    West Ender Member

    Dec 28, 2020
    Southwest
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #206 West Ender, Apr 22, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
    Well, this is a start, but why be dismissive of discussion on a 'discussion board'?
    The draw provided some juicy matchups that we don't see in every Olympics.
    Heck, you said earlier that Sweden and USA have not been in the same group since 1996, which means it's not 'old hat'.
    I'm actually happy these two teams meet in group; less pressure on Team USA methinks.
    How often have we seen Japan vs England (or Team UK) in the Olympics?
     
  7. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    I wasn't being dismissive of discussion, I was just trying to posit an explanation as to why we haven't seen much of it.

    And IMO, any specific match-ups in the group phase don't necessarily make it more exciting than any other specific match-ups that tend to happen when the top 10 are all thrown in together. Even if they haven't happen in the OGs much/ever before, they happen fairly often in general. In fact, USA-SWE is a rather poor example of an exciting match. In the same post you reference where I said it hasn't happened in the OG groups, I said it's happened far too often in the WWC and wasn't wanting to see it here.

    And the pressure issue is pretty indifferent. Again, with eight of nine "expected" teams making it to the QFs, simply having someone in your group isn't that much of a benefit for avoiding them in the future.
     
  8. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    Well... if they didn't insist on playing each other in friendlies too... :)



    Actually, GB's entire team history fits onto a postcard - all in 2012.

    Great Britain 0–0 Sweden (friendly, Middlesbrough, England)
    Great Britain 1–0 New Zealand (Cardiff, Wales)
    Great Britain 3–0 Cameroon (Cardiff)
    Great Britain 1–0 Brazil (London, England)
    Great Britain 0–2 Canada (quarter-final, Coventry, England)

    2016 there was no agreement to form a British team, but the four associations agreed this time. A men's amateur team used to compete regularly but stopped a long time ago, and now it's politically difficult to do, as it could threaten the four FAs' independence.

    Japan-England has happened in the last four World Cups, and Japan-Scotland in 2019, so it's not such a rarity.

     
  9. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Hope Solo would agree with you! :coffee:

    Thanks for posting 2015's Japan-England and not 2019's Japan-England (or 2011's Japan-England, for that matter, although there was at least a happy end of the tournament there). :p
     
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  10. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    My (bold or not) predictions: eliminated at group stage: Zambia, New-Zealand, China and Canada.

    Winners Japan.
     
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  11. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    I went back to the previous posts: since the moment when the draw was finalized, three predictions out of three here had Japan as the winners.

    Now, not that I believe in jinxing, but... :cautious:
     
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  12. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Definitely bold to think Chile makes it our of the groups, if only because we've never seen the weakest-ranked team from any group advance before.

    I think Japan is a solid team, but not super - unless they excel at the "advance by PKs" strategy that Sweden used last time around, I don't see Japan winning, however the knockout stage lines up. They're the weakest host we've had since Greece, and no host has even medaled since USA '96, despite every host aside from Greece being a top-ten team.
     
  13. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Now, that's jinxing! :ninja:
     
  14. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree. At the very least, the First Matchday is extremely intriguing.
    Because so few friendlies have been played the last year, it's a big question how these teams are shaping up. Can Australia regroup after giving up 5 goals apiece to Germany and Netherlands? How far along has Brazil come under Pia Sundhage? Also, Japan with its young players under Takakano, Canada under Priestman? Great Britain, of course, is a mystery with its possible addition of players from Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland.

    Endler is a big X factor in Group E(ndler). The other 3 teams are naturally counting on getting 3 points against Chile in order to advance out of the group stage, but if they have a flat game, don't create many chances, will Endler end their tournament for them?

    US and Sweden both want to start off securing 3 points and take a big step towards advancing. Though they'll settle for a tie, they're going to put their quality forward and try to get the 3 points. And they are, without a doubt, the heavyweight matchup of the First Matchday, two seriously good teams.
     
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  15. JanBalk

    JanBalk Member+

    Jun 9, 2004
    So they have never been beaten by any team not playing for the same Queen?
     
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  16. Lechus7

    Lechus7 Member+

    Aug 31, 2011
    Wroclaw
    #216 Lechus7, Apr 26, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2021
    Schedule

    upload_2021-4-26_17-53-54.png

    Women's Final match - Friday 11:00 am...... at Olympic Stadium.
    It does seem like organizers want to make the final a part of ongoing athletic competiotions that day - well it will guarntee full stadium and non-stop live feed around the world (far more advertisment than single event on football stadium ever could). I'm starting to like this idea...
     
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  17. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    #217 Lohmann, Apr 26, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2021
    Guarantee full stadium?:confused: I`m happy that I had only a bad dream that we have a pandemic. :sleep:

    Edit: The 50km Race Walk Men and 20km Race Walk Women are in Sapporo!
     
  18. Lechus7

    Lechus7 Member+

    Aug 31, 2011
    Wroclaw
    #218 Lechus7, Apr 26, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2021
    Well.. all right maybe not full per say but evenly populated with exception of every other seat not taken.

    WE League pre-season this weekend:

    urawa1jpg.jpg
    Urawa vs. Mynavi

    INAC1.jpg
    INAC vs. Parceiro
    (this guy in the middle surlely had to sneeze at some point before :ROFLMAO:)

    Considering the pandemic.
    Not everywhere covid was taken lightly at the begining (like it happend in EU) and some coutries worldwide responed by adapting better measures than others.
    I can't recall in EU public access buildings from Paris to Warsaw that are beeing retrofited with UV lights that kill the virus (switched off by motion sensor when people are passing by) nor drones spraying and disinfecting streets by nights - like it all has been done in Japan.
    Greater Tokyo Area - that's 37m peolple - had 730 new cases today out of ~8500 people tested. Yes, the pandemic is still raging on and covid mutations are becoming even more dangerous, yet there are places in world realtively more safe then other and even some places where people almost forgoten the discomfort of wearing a mask. Right @sbahnhof ?
     
  19. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    The immunisation rate in Japan is very low. Less than two million people got their first vaccination dose while in Germany we have nearly twenty million. International visitors will not be allowed at the Olympic Games and the majority of the people in Japan want the Olympic Games to be either cancelled or postponed. I am sceptical that the Japanese government will allow full stadiums.

    You didn`t comment on the other point I was talking about so I am not sure if you have realized that there is no athletic competition in the Olympic Stadium on this day before 7:50 pm.
     
  20. Lechus7

    Lechus7 Member+

    Aug 31, 2011
    Wroclaw
    Low immunisation rate atm is something to worry about but, consider:

    April: On April 12, Japan began administering vaccines to senior citizens age 65 and older. There are roughly 36 million people making up Japan's elderly population.

    May: Japan is set to receive 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine between May and June. Vaccine minister Taro Kono has a target of getting roughly 10 million vaccine doses for each week of May. In addition, the Moderna vaccine is expected to be approved around this time. According to Reuters, the head of Japan vaccine business for local pharmaceutical company Takeda Pharmaceutical Co said that securing approval for the vaccine in May is the ‘best case scenario’. This is because clinical trials are likely to take months.

    June: NHK reports that athletes competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics may receive vaccines by late June, though the government has said that inoculations will not be a requirement to participate.

    July: Treatment for the general public begins. All residents age 16 and older, including foreign residents, are eligible for the free vaccine. The government does not recommend children to be vaccinated at this time due to potential risks and allergic reactions.

    September: According to The Japan Times, vaccine chief Taro Kono says Japan will secure enough vaccines to inoculate all residents aged 16 and older by the end of September.

    Nothing obviously is certain but it looks promising.

    As for Olympic Stadium I didn't check the rest of the schedule for this day but even if that's the case then the women's football final (and ceremony) will be riding on "morning session" routine. I would think it will get transmited worldwide in same way as everyday morning activities usually are - especially when nothing else is happening till evening - thus having potential to reach bigger audience.
    Now, singular women sport event played at different venue but at the exact same time as those 7:50 pm activities you had mentioned above could end up much less visible. What you think?
     
  21. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I hope your optimism is justified but bad experience in the EU makes me sceptical. Deliveries of vaccines that are lower than promised, side effects of vaccines that make people refuse to get vaccinated and other problems can happen.

    Medal decisions at the same time as the football final are beach volleyball women (bronze and gold medal matches), hockey women (bronze medal match) and table tennis team men (bronze medal match). It is possible for German teams to reach these medal matches in all three sports so that I might have to watch the football final on a livestream but the biggest problem is that 11:00 am in Japan means 4:00 am in Germany!
     
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  22. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Don't get me started about the amount of sleep that I could lose to watch this Olympic tournament! :x3:

    At least it will be in summer, so I should be on holyday, but I could need to bend my whole biorhythm around the event!
     
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  23. Lechus7

    Lechus7 Member+

    Aug 31, 2011
    Wroclaw
    Yeah, lots of early bird mornings in front of us here in Europe during the Olympics. :coffee:
     
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  24. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    All other football games don`t start before 4:30 pm so that you can watch them in the morning in Europe.
     
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  25. Lechus7

    Lechus7 Member+

    Aug 31, 2011
    Wroclaw
    JOINT STATEMENT BY THE IOC, IPC, TOKYO 2020, TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN

    With 86 days left until the opening of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and 118 days left until the opening of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan today agreed on the following measures to ensure the safe organisation of the Games. The five parties will continue to deploy all possible COVID-19 countermeasures and place the highest priority on safety for the sake of all participants, including the athletes, and the Japanese public who will be playing host to the Games.

    1. The COVID-19 countermeasures included in the Playbooks (rulebooks) published in February this year have since been reviewed and significantly updated in order to address the emergence of new mutant coronavirus strains and the evolving situation of the pandemic. New rules that have to be observed by everyone involved in the Games during their stay in Japan have been incorporated, and others updated, so that the Tokyo 2020 Games can be held safely. The most important measures, which were agreed by all the five parties today, appear in the second edition of the Playbooks and are as follows:

    • All participants are required to take two COVID-19 tests before their flight to Japan.

    • In principle, athletes and all those in close proximity with athletes will be tested daily to minimise the risk of undetected positive cases that could transmit the virus. The dates and times will be set in line with the sports events and schedule.

    • All other Games participants will be tested daily for three days after their arrival. After the first three days and throughout their stay, they will be tested regularly, based on the operational nature of their role and level of contact with athletes.

    • All Games participants must, in principle, only follow the activities they have outlined in their activity plan. They must minimise contact within one metre of Games participants who have already been in Japan for more than 14 days, and Japanese residents.

    • All Games participants must, in principle, exclusively use dedicated Games vehicles, and they are not allowed to use public transport.

    • All Games participants must, in principle, eat only in the limited locations where COVID-19 countermeasures are in place, including catering facilities at Games venues, their accommodation's restaurant, and their rooms, using room service or food delivery.

    • Close contacts are defined as those who have prolonged contact (for 15 minutes or more) with a person who has a confirmed positive COVID-19 test, within one metre, without wearing a face mask. This is particularly applicable when such contact happens in enclosed spaces such as hotel rooms or vehicles. Cases will be confirmed by the Japanese health authorities.
    The Playbooks have been developed based on science, benefiting from learnings gathered during the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to implementing the most effective tools being used throughout society, such as mask wearing, personal hygiene and physical distancing, they also draw upon the experience of hundreds of sports events that have taken place across the world during the pandemic, which have been held safely, with minimal risk to participants and the local population. They are based on the ongoing work of the All Partners Task Force, which includes the Government of Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the IOC, IPC, World Health Organization and independent experts and organisations from across the world. A third version of the Playbooks is expected to be published in June. As with all the previous versions, it will take the latest scientific developments into consideration.

    2. As we look into the evolving situation with the domestic infections status involving new strains, we have agreed that a decision regarding spectator capacity at the Olympic and Paralympic venues will be made in June, in line with the government’s general guidance concerning the upper limit of spectator capacity in sports events. This follows the significant decision in March, when the IOC and IPC were informed about the conclusion of the Japanese parties not to allow entry into Japan for overseas spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 due to the prevailing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the IOC, the IPC and Tokyo 2020 continue to work on optimising the number of participants attending the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

    We are confident that compliance with these regulations will ensure the safety and security of athletes, Games officials and spectators, as well as the people of Tokyo, other host locations and Japan.

    We are already entering the operational phase. All parties at today’s meeting renewed their full commitment to safe and secure Games for all participants and the Japanese people.

    Playbook (Athlletes and Officials)
     
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