Sweden: no vaccine and controversial mini-holidays

Panic has settled in the concentration of Sweden, which must play against Spain next Monday 14 in La Cartuja (Seville), in which it will be the premiere of both in the Eurocup: two players have tested positive. The news jumped at 4:00 p.m. Dejan Kulusevski, a Juventus player and one of the great Swedish stars, has tested positive for coronavirus. “It's not an outbreak, it's a case,” Anders Valentin, doctor of the Swedish national team, tried to reassure. That tense calm until waiting for results was definitively broken at 6:00 p.m. The players were about to start training when the doctor approached Mattias Svanberg to communicate that it was also positive. The Bologna midfielder had to leave the session and fear grew because he is one of Kulusevski's best friends in the dressing room.

The controversy in the country has been ignited by two issues: the vaccine and the mini vacation given to them by Janne Andersson, the coach. Part by part. Sweden, like Spain, has not vaccinated its footballers because in the Nordic country they decided not to make an exception for them, something that is now being criticized by different sectors of public opinion. Stefan Pettersson, sports director, rules out doing it now, contrary to what happened in the Spanish National Team after Busquets was positive: “No, we haven't. A vaccine by itself does not affect how the protocol will be maintained. It's fine for your authorities and quarantine, but I don't know anything. Vaccines do not facilitate anything around the protocol ”. “Immunity takes a couple of weeks. Only towards the end of the tournament if they go far would they benefit from it ”, the doctor explained. That is, Sweden rules out vaccinating its players despite the possible outbreak.

On the other hand, the center of criticism has been the mini-vacation that the coach granted the footballers: they were free from May 29 to June 2. The explanation they argue within the Swedish federation is that the players concentrated earlier (on May 24) than other teams and that the players needed to disconnect before traveling to Goteborg, where they will have their base camp at the Gothia Park Academy throughout the championship.

However, those days off can be very expensive for Sweden because the doctor himself acknowledged that the contagion occurred “during the holidays.” “The players have stayed at home. If we hadn't focused as soon as we did, everyone would have been home alone for x number of days anyway. We have not followed them in detail during their days off ”, explained the coach to justify his decision.

The controversy is served, because within a few minutes of knowing Kulusevski's positive, some images of him recording an advertising spot for a beverage brand with laughter came to light. “Now I don't have access to social media, so I haven't seen this, I've only heard about it, but it completely depends on how it's done. If it was outdoors and it's reasonable, I don't see any major weirdness about it. But I don't know exactly how it happened, so I can't comment on it, ”said the coach. The beverage brand, however, has come out quickly to clarify that the announcement was filmed following all security measures and with a prior test of all participants.

Controversy aside, the real concern now lies in the spread of the outbreak. Sources from the Swedish federation assure that there are up to four footballers who have been in close contact with Kulusevski in recent days. One of them, Svanberg, has tested positive and in Sweden their fingers are crossed to make it the last. For now, neither of them will be in the premiere against Spain.