World champions Japan don’t care if they travel first-class or economy — but they plan to be flying high after Thursday’s Olympic final against the United States. Talismanic captain Aya Miyama played down a pre-Games row when they flew to London in the cheap seats while the men’s team were in business class, saying “we’re pretty small, so it doesn’t really matter”.
But coach Norio Sasaki said whatever seats his players are in, they plan to be wearing gold medals. And he said they’ve made special plans to contain the free-scoring Americans at Wembley.