Tickets 'all look the same to Japanese'

Dozens of England fans were banking on a new scam to get them into the match against Argentina. The trick, which relies on Japanese stadium staff not being able to read basic English, involves submitting tickets for other matches and hoping the stewards will not notice.

It is a fresh embarrassment for World Cup organisers and further undermines confidence in the arrangements surrounding tickets for the tournament which have been widely condemned.

One England fan said: "Hardly any of the stewards can read English properly and none of the information on the ticket is printed in Japanese.

"I met two German fans who had got into the Ireland game by using tickets for their match against Cameroon and no one noticed. They said the touts were charging much less for that match than the Ireland game so they could save a fortune."

Although tickets are marked with a bar code, Fifa admitted that only a small number are screened by computer. The rest have to be checked by stewards.

With touts' prices being quoted as £500 for the Argentina game, news of the new scam has spread rapidly among England supporters. Many are now seeking intact copies of the ticket for the game played at the stadium last Monday night between Italy and Ecuador.

It also emerged today that a large number of the blackmarket tickets in circulation in Sapporo have come from the Argentinian Football Association. Police estimate that 2,500 England fans are in the city on the lookout for tickets.