33-year-old expresses frustration over late venue switch for national team
\nTOKYO
\nJapan women\u2019s captain Saki Kumagai has criticised Asian football officials after the away leg of their tie against North Korea for a spot at the Paris Olympics was moved to Saudi Arabia days before the game.
\nKumagai said that the Asian Football Confederation \u201chave a responsibility\u201d to look after players after Saturday\u2019s match was switched from Pyongyang to Jeddah.
\nKumagai spoke to reporters in Japan on Tuesday as she was set to leave for Saudi Arabia, just a day after jetting in from her Italian club Roma.
\nThe 33-year-old said \u201cthis kind of thing can\u2019t happen\u201d, referring to the late notice the national team had been given.
\nJapan\u2019s football association had reportedly asked the AFC to move the first leg from the North Korean capital Pyongyang over a lack of operational transparency and a scarcity of flights. Reports say the JFA did not receive confirmation that Saudi Arabia would be the new venue until Monday night, and the kick-off time and stadium have yet to be announced.
\n\u201cAs players it\u2019s our job to prepare for the match but the organisers definitely have a responsibility to make sure we are in our best condition,\u201d added Kumagai.
\n\u201cThis can\u2019t happen again.\u201d
\nThe return leg of the playoff for a place at this summer\u2019s Olympics takes place in Tokyo on February 28. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the first leg, Japan\u2019s four England-based players stayed in London until the venue was confirmed, rather than joining the squad in Japan.
\nDespite the disruption Kumagai said the team \u201ccan\u2019t end up using this as an excuse\u201d. \u201cThe most important thing is for us not to let this stress us out and we must concentrate on the game,\u201d she said.
\nThe AFC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
33-year-old expresses frustration over late venue switch for national team TOKYO Japan women\u2019s captain Saki Kumagai has criticised Asian football officials after the away leg of their tie against North Korea for a spot at the Paris Olympics was moved to Saudi Arabia days before the game. Kumagai said that the Asian Football Confederation \u201chave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-388637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n