had won Japan national team Football defeated its guest, the North Korean national team, 1-0, in the match that brought them together today, Thursday, at the Tokyo National Stadium in Tokyo, within the third round competitions, of the second group competitions in the second round of the joint Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Japan vs South Korea
The Japanese national team owes credit for this victory to its player, O Tanaka, who scored the only goal of the match in the second minute.
In the second match in the same group on Thursday, Myanmar will also meet Syria at Thawna Stadium in Yangon.
The Japanese team maintained the lead in the group standings with 9 points from 3 matches, compared to 3 points each for North Korea and Syria, which played two matches, while Myanmar’s balance is still devoid of points.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry appealed to supporters of the Japanese football team the day before the match not to go to “hostile” North Korea next week to attend a match between the two countries.
後半5分、左サイド前田大然からチャンスが！
おしいっ💦日本🇯🇵 １－０ 🇰🇵北朝鮮#夢への勇気を #SAMURAIBLUE #jfa #daihyo #サッカー日本代表 pic.twitter.com/pPq7j0fQYY
— まさやん ✨つみたて投資中✨看取り介護中 (@tsumitate46masa) March 21, 2024
The ministry said on its account on the “X” website: “The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly requests that the general public refrain” from attending the match scheduled for March 26, which is the first between the two teams in North Korea since 2011, in the fourth round of the qualifiers.
Japan vs South Korea
“As you know, North Korea takes a hostile view towards Japan and we do not advise the general public to travel,” she added.
Japan and North Korea will play in Tokyo on Thursday as part of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, before the return match on March 26.
Japan has long advised its citizens against traveling to North Korea, but does not explicitly prohibit them from doing so. There are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.
It is not clear how many fans want to travel, although they need an entry visa to North Korea to do so.
Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) reported that 14 government officials will accompany the Japanese team in the match, in addition to a small number of media.
Japan vs South Korea
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.
Relations between the two countries were affected by issues including compensation for the harsh Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945, and finally Pyongyang’s launching of missiles into Japanese territory.
On the other hand, Thursday’s match in Tokyo is expected to witness a large participation of North Korean fans among the Korean ethnic community in Japan, which numbers about 300,000 people.