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The story
In the opening match of the men’s soccer first-round group stage at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Japan defeated Hong Kong 2-0. The match at Toyota Stadium reportedly drew a crowd of 7,720, and on 5ch the main topics were remarks about the sparse attendance (“way too empty,” “are they padding the numbers?”) and comparisons with baseball event crowds. Meanwhile, opinions were split over the fact that the squad was built mainly around domestic J.League players and over manager Takashi Oiwa’s tactics, with more attention going to the empty seats in the stands than to the match itself.
Sports Nippon
[September 16, 2026, 21:22]
Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Men’s Soccer Group A Opening Match: Japan 2-0 Hong Kong (September 16, 2026, Toyota Stadium)
Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
They're probably saving their peak form for the final
They're just not taking it seriously, right?
https://tokyo-sports.ismcdn.jp/mwimgs/8/a/800w/img_8aca5abc279210a8b74f62683fb1610b213533.jpg
More like 3,000 people
Padded-attendance soccer
Here we go again, cherry-picking a shot from behind the visitors' goal and hyping it up themselves lolol
Never change, do they lolol
Damn lol
You could run a flowing-noodle stand in those empty stands
7,720 people, apparently lol
Bet that's padded too lol
Baseball's gonna be packed, so I'm jealous
Ohtani's playing too, right?
When's the first game?
Wide open with no one marking him, and he still skied it over the bar — happened a lot
Soccer fanboys post those wide-angle "curved" shots to call baseball crowds empty, but now that it's their own sport they play the victim?
Looks like there's only about 3,000 people there, tops
Padded-attendance soccer
No way that's happening
Typical baseball fanboy who doesn't even realize the venue's just huge
Nah, they just want to slap a catchy tagline on him to drum up interest lol
Apparently only domestic-league players are eligible for the group stage
Didn't the commentator say that?
Go watch Samurai Japan too then
Baseball's schedule is packed, unlike soccer's
The ACL (Asian Champions League) group joins from match 2
And the overseas-based players reportedly join from match 3
Ah, I see
Looking forward to match 3 then
It's a weekday and it still drew 7,000
Baseball's U-18 tournament only pulls in like 1,200
It's not popular, it's unpopular
They brought out the pros and this is what they got lol
■ Players this tournament's U-21 Japan squad couldn't call up
Ryunosuke Sato (Spain, 1st division)
Keisuke Goto (Germany, 1st division)
Koki Ando (Belgium, 1st division)
Shion Shinkawa (Belgium, 1st division)
Gaku Nawata (Belgium, 1st division)
Shunsuke Saito (Belgium, 1st division)
Ryoga Kida (Argentina, 1st division)
Kazuya Kita (Spain, 2nd division)
Kento Shiogai (Germany, 2nd division)
Reo Takaoka (Belgium, 2nd division)
Yuki Yoshinaga (Belgium, 2nd division)
Ryota Onoda (Augsburg second team)
Keito Kamishiro (Frankfurt second team)
Taiyu Yamazaki (Mainz second team)
Asuma Ikari (Hannover second team)
Never heard of most of these guys
Kosugi's on this (U-21) side, but he should be getting called up to the full national team like Goto and Sato
Hardly anyone even on the senior team starts at full-back in one of the big five leagues. Hashioka was a season-opening starter but got injured
Sugawara's only been coming on as a sub
this is with J.League players called up, right?
A national team with pros in it only draws 7,000? (and that's padded)
That really says something about how popular soccer is
It's the U-21 team lol
"Painful to watch" — Asian Games broadcast causes a stir as men's soccer Japan's opener also has noticeably empty seats… "Way too empty, this is bad" "Should this even be on terrestrial TV?"
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/2f1b2c44531e8d54dd6409261fdc88e587878f60
Show me the attendance numbers for the other events then
lolol
Just broadcast soccer's lack of popularity to the whole country
They brought out J.League players and this is what happened lol
Forget the attendance, the soccer being played was the real problem
Honestly, if the stands had been packed for a performance like that, it'd be almost embarrassing
their finishing is just too poor
There's definitely no one here from a big-five league or the senior national team
Isn't it like that right now too? Not sure though
People complain about the E-1 Championship and this tournament every single time
You're overreacting off just one game
Baseball's All-Star Series in Niigata, even with a bunch of no-name players, drew 10,000 on a weekday
And this soccer team's supposedly made up of J.League players, right?
Baseball's U-18 tournament only drew about 1,000 too though
Oiwa, the incoming manager, is fine as he is
For Moriyasu's senior squad, just call up Nagatomo or someone
But there's nothing really to gain from this tournament anyway
The level of play is exactly what you'd expect, and the attendance matches it
The only team taking this tournament seriously is Korea, since winning it exempts their players from military service
Background and talking points on this story
This tournament’s men’s soccer squad is built around U-21 players, kept separate from the senior national team that includes players from Europe’s big five leagues. As the article notes, players from AFC Champions League clubs join from the second match and overseas-based players from the third, meaning the team took the field without many of its key players available. The “7,720” attendance figure comes from media reports; the thread lit up comparing it to baseball events, but that comparison glosses over differences like the weekday scheduling and the Asian Games’ particular status as a tournament — taking it at face value risks missing the bigger picture. Criticism of the manager was also divided, with some saying it’s too early to judge given how recently the squad came together, and others saying there’s simply no tactical identity — no consensus has been reached.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking+) thread ‘[Asian Games] Oiwa’s Japan Opens with 2-0 Win Over Hong Kong, Hisatsugu Ishii Scores First Goal, Manager: “It Was Quite a Struggle”‘.
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