Nagoya: The South Korean and Qatari men's national football teams experienced an unexpected delay ahead of their Asian Games match in Japan, arriving at the stadium approximately 30 minutes later than planned due to their bus drivers getting lost, a South Korean team official reported.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the teams were set to commence their Group D match at 7:30 p.m. at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Rugby Field, with pre-match warmups scheduled to begin 50 minutes prior to kickoff. Despite this, both teams reached the venue at around 6:20 p.m., leaving them with minimal time for preparations. The drivers mistakenly navigated to an adjacent baseball stadium instead of the intended football venue, which is part of the larger Mizuho Sports Park complex in central Japan.
The South Korean official indicated that the match would proceed as scheduled, although the late arrival necessitated that players hastily prepare in the rain before the game began. The official expressed disappointment, remarking, "Something like this should not have happened in an international competition," and noted that the Korea Football Association (KFA) had not yet lodged an official complaint.
Players managed to take to the field for warmups amidst pouring rain around 6:45 p.m. This incident follows a previous transportation issue involving the South Korean team. On Monday, head coach Lee Min-sung was delayed for his pretournament press conference due to the organizing committee's failure to send an official vehicle to the team hotel. Consequently, Lee was advised to take a taxi, but ultimately found another official vehicle for transport.