Tokyo (AFP)
The Japanese Football Association announced that the “Blue Samurai” team won over North Korea with withdrawal, in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup, after being informed by the International Federation.
FIFA announced that Japan won 3-0 in the second round of the continental qualifiers in Group Two, in a match that was scheduled in Pyongyang last Tuesday.
North Korea suddenly canceled the match five days before it was scheduled to take place, without explaining the reasons.
After Al Jazeera's isolated move, FIFA said that the match would not be rescheduled, due to time constraints in the international calendar.
For its part, the Japanese Federation said in a statement, “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee informed us of its decision to lose North Korea 0-3.”
Japan, which reached the eighth final of the last World Cup in Qatar, raises its score to 12 points at the top of Group Two, five ahead of Syria and nine ahead of North Korea, two rounds before the end of the second round, which confirms its qualification to the third round in addition to the 2027 Asian Cup finals, and Japan was It beat North Korea 1-0 in the first leg in Tokyo.
The Japanese Kyodo agency indicated that North Korea would not allow the match to be held on its soil, due to concerns about the outbreak of a bacterial infection in Japan, and the two countries have not faced each other in North Korea since 2011.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned fans against trying to travel to North Korea to attend the match. “The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly requests that the general public refrain” from attending the match.
The women's team match between the two teams qualifying for the Paris Olympics was moved from the North Korean capital to neutral territory in Saudi Arabia last month, at the request of the Japanese Federation to its Asian counterpart, due to the lack of transparency regarding operational matters and the scarcity of flights.
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