Olympics-Soccer-South Africa opener to kick off as scheduled

The South Africa men's soccer match against Japan will kick off as scheduled at 8:00 p.m. (1100 GMT), organisers said on Thursday, following concerns that it could be called off because of COVID-19 infections.

Severely depleted by coronavirus infections and withdrawals before they left for the Games, the South Africa squad faced further setbacks at the weekend after two players and a video analyst tested positive in Tokyo.