Japan did well on the field in the Confederations Cup, finishing as the runnerup of the eight-nation tournament, but how smoothly did things go off the field in the test-run for next year's World Cup?
On the night of May 31 in Niigata, hundreds of people could be seen dashing to the gates of the 42,300-seater Big Swan Stadium as soon as they got off the shuttle buses at the terminal near the stadium. They could hear the noise of the crowd from inside the stadium as it was well past kickoff time in Japan's game against Canada. Some 2,000 people reportedly couldn't get inside before the kickoff.
A lot of people went to the shuttle bus stop at JR Niigata Station between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., which caused a long queue and a certain amount of frustration. The local organizers, who were dealing with such a big crowd for the first time, failed to get their act together.