Fire Alarm Forces Sweden to Evacuate Hotel Ahead of England World Cup Clash
July 7, 2018
Sweden's preparations for their 2018 FIFA World Cup quarter-final with England were disrupted on Saturday morning as a false fire alarm prompted an evacuation of the team hotel and surrounding buildings.
"According to the hotel management, they believe the alarm went off due to either someone smoking in their room or someone accidentally hitting a fire alarm switch," Sky Sports reported. "All the players are now back in their rooms and will look to progress with their plans ahead of the match."
According to Jeremy Armstrong of the Daily Mirror, the incident took place in the early hours of the morning at the Lotte Hotel in Samara, Russia. The Sweden players are then said to have gathered in the lobby before it was deemed safe to return to their beds.
England fan Terry Comitti, who was staying at the same facility, said the Swedes were unsurprisingly unhappy about being disturbed.
"The Swedish players looked like they had the right hump," he said, per Armstrong. "They were not happy and that wouldn’t be a surprise when they were supposed to be getting their beauty sleep before what is probably the biggest games of their lives."
Sweden have shocked plenty by making it this far at the World Cup. Having qualified from a group that contained South Korea, Mexico and defending champions Germany, they then got the better of Switzerland in the last 16 to progress to the quarter-final.
They'll be coming up against a confident England side in Samara. The Three Lions beat Colombia via a penalty shootout in the first knockout round, and in Harry Kane, they have the tournament's top scorer leading the line—the captain has fired home six goals in three games so far.