A WE League side won the gold. Most of Ecopa stayed empty.

Hanon Nishio, a forward for RB Omiya Ardija, came on with Japan a goal down. In the 86th minute at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa she took a pass on the right and drove into the penalty area. She had shouted for Yuzuho Shiokoshi to leave her the ball. The first touch was heavier than she wanted, and she could see the goalkeeper the whole way. She stayed with it and put the shot in the bottom-left corner. Japan were level, 2-2, and the sound came from 6,243 people in a ground that holds 50,889.

Japan had led since the 32nd minute, when Mami Ueno finished the rebound after Shiokoshi’s shot was blocked. North Korea scored in the 47th and again in the 69th, the first goals Japan had given up all tournament, and for a stretch the final looked gone. Extra time did not find a winner. In the shootout Japan converted all five kicks. Shu Ohba saved North Korea’s third. Shiokoshi took the fifth. That kick won a fourth Asian Games gold, a third in a row.

In March, in Sydney, Japan won the Asian Cup with a core of players who spend the club year in England’s Women’s Super League. For the Games, most of the squad came from the WE League. Ohba was the one based abroad, keeping goal for Rangers in Scotland. Sakurako Ohashi is still at Toyo University, and the final was her first start of the tournament. Yui Narumiya wore the armband. She plays for INAC Kobe Leonessa, and a lot of the players around her were new. “With more and more Japanese players moving overseas, I personally saw this tournament as a chance to show what the WE League has to offer,” she said.

Michihisa Kano, the head coach, had been saying the same thing, and he had told them to be ready if the final reached penalties. He coached the last one, too. In Hangzhou in October 2023, Japan beat this North Korea team 4-1 with 37,000 in the ground. Three nights before Friday’s final, heavy rain held the same stadium to 998 for the semi-final, a 2-0 win over South Korea. Chiina Kamiya, of Sanfrecce Hiroshima, scored both goals.

The host broadcaster chose the men’s volleyball semi-final, Japan against China, over the football final. Shiokoshi, who plays for Tokyo Verdy Beleza, had just taken the kick that won the gold, and then she talked about the seats. A crowd of 6,243 might have been large for this tournament, she said. Beside Hangzhou, she still felt they were not quite there. “We’re out there fighting hard, and we want people to come and see us play in person.” She hoped the gold would send some of those people to a WE League match.

The orange seats in the photograph spell ECOPA because, on that December morning in 2008, no one is sitting in them. A marathon banner runs under the stand. The final was in that bowl, in Fukuroi, about 100 kilometers from Nagoya. On Oct. 2 the bowl was still mostly empty.