The housing and transportation crisis hits the Asian Games in Nagoya and Manchester United bids farewell to the League Cup

The housing crisis cast a shadow over the start of the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, amid anger and complaints from a number of participating delegations regarding the accommodation of athletes, after some of them faced problems ranging from short beds, water leakage, and poor room distribution, to the point where an official in one of the teams was forced to leave the residence and reserve a hotel room at his expense.

Criticism escalated before the official opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday, with South Korean officials describing the temporary housing units made of containers as “the worst ever,” stressing that the beds were too short, while Byun Joon-hyung, a player for the South Korean national basketball team, posted a video clip on social media showing a leaking sink and a flooded floor in his hut, and wrote with a caption: “Please help us.”

The organizing committee faces a challenge in accommodating more than 17,000 athletes and officials expected to participate in the largest sporting event on the continent, after it chose not to establish a traditional sports village, and to rely instead, in an attempt to reduce costs, on accommodation solutions distributed between a cruise ship, temporary units within the port area, and hotels.

Complaints were not limited to the nature of accommodation, as athletes faced hours of delay in registration procedures and activation of accreditation cards, in addition to problems in distributing rooms among athletes, coaches and officials, while several countries complained about the lack of accommodation.

Hisashi Mizutori, deputy head of the Japanese delegation participating in the tournament, said that some athletes had to wait for long hours. Because registration procedures and activation of accreditation cards take longer than expected.

Mizutori revealed other problems in distributing rooms, explaining that relying on numbers alone without taking into account practical aspects led to inappropriate arrangements. He gave an example of a group of 5 men and 5 women allocated 5 double rooms, which could lead to men and women living in shared rooms, or coaches staying with athletes, or bringing together coaches who need to store large amounts of medical equipment in the same room.

On Tuesday, the Italian cruise ship “Costa Serena” docked in Nagoya, where it will host about 4,000 athletes and officials, while about 2,000 other participants will reside in temporary housing units created from containers within the port area of ​​Japan’s largest ports.

The organizing committee attributes the accommodation crisis to the number of participants exceeding initial estimates, as it expected about 15,000 athletes and officials to attend, before the number increased with the addition of new games to the tournament programme, while the ceiling of participants was later set at 17,000 people, with confirmation that accommodation would be provided for all.

Media reports said that the South Korean national team, the defending men's soccer champion in the Asian Games, was late for a training session yesterday (Wednesday) after the bus designated to transport it to the team's residence did not arrive.

The South Korean team, which began its campaign in Group D at the Aichi-Nagoya Games with a 4-1 victory over Qatar on Tuesday, arrived 20 minutes late for a light training session in Nagoya the next day, after officials had to quickly secure a replacement bus.

Reuters contacted the organizing committee to obtain a comment regarding the incident.

The logistical glitch came after a similar incident on Tuesday, when the team bus took the players to a baseball stadium instead of the Mizuho Rugby Stadium, which hosted the match, resulting in them arriving about 30 minutes behind schedule.

Yonhap News Agency quoted an official in the Korean Football Association as saying that a number of participating teams are suffering from similar transportation problems.

The official added: “Simple problems related to vehicle schedules and operating mechanisms have been recurring during training sessions and official events since the start of the tournament.”

He continued: “This is not a problem specific to our team, but rather it is currently faced by all teams participating in the tournament.”

The South Korean national team is scheduled to conclude its campaign in the group stage by facing Saudi Arabia on September 22.

Michael Carrick, the coach of Manchester United, acknowledged his responsibility for his team's sudden exit from the English League Cup, after losing to Brighton 2-3 pm, on Wednesday, in the third round, stressing that the team was required to react quickly after the players left Old Trafford amid jeers from the fans.

United started on their way to achieving a comfortable victory after Shea Lacey opened the scoring in his first start with the first team, before Mason Mount added the second goal in the tenth minute. But Brighton rose up and overturned a two-goal deficit into a deserved victory, after Charalambos Kostoulas, Pascal Gross and Maxime De Kuiper scored three goals, making Brighton the first team since 1976 to succeed in converting a two-goal deficit into a victory at Old Trafford.

British news agency PA Media quoted Carrick as saying: “We must bear full responsibility. We cannot advance in the game and then allow it to end this way. Some things have accumulated in recent weeks, and this has begun to create a state of frustration and disappointment, but we have to deal with them and change the situation.”

He added: “We have a match against Fulham next Sunday, and we have to show the required reaction. This is the most important thing now. Everything happened within a short period, perhaps two or three weeks, during which we witnessed a lot of frustration and disappointment. We have to turn things around and get back to achieving victories.”

United will face Fulham before a three-week international break, which makes the match important for the team in trying to regain its balance after a faltering start to the season.

Carrick denied feeling pressure due to the increasing talk about his future, and said: “I do not feel pressure, and this does not bother me at all. “I understand what is happening outside the club and how things are going, but what matters to me is winning matches and having a good atmosphere within the team, and feeling that we are moving in the right direction.”

For his part, Brighton coach Fabian Horzler said that belief in his team’s ability to come back was a key factor in the victory, adding: “When you come to a place like this and face a team like United, you need to believe in your ability to achieve something. But showing this belief after falling behind by two goals reflects true character, and we stuck together until the end.”