The Japan Football Association said on its website on the 22nd, "As a result of discussions with FIFA through the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the second qualifying match for the World Cup scheduled for the 26th will not be held in Pyongyang or in a neutral area."
"According to this decision, the team will end its A-match (match between national teams) activities in March on March 22. We will let you know what measures will be taken in this match when it is confirmed later," he said. 토토
"I didn't get a chance to make up for the problems that came out in the first game (against North Korea). It's a shame that we didn't have a chance to recruit more players," Moriyasu Hajime said through the association. "I'm grateful to the players who accepted the call-up even in a difficult situation."
AFC officially announced on its website later in the day that the fourth Group B match of the second Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup between North Korea and Japan will not be held as scheduled on the 26th.
AFC said, "The decision was made after North Korea was informed on the 20th that the game venue should be moved to a neutral area due to unavoidable circumstances."
Prior to the announcement, AFC Secretary-General Dato Windsor expressed his willingness to hold the North Korea-Japan match as scheduled in a media interview, but did not seem to solve the venue problem.
It is not clear how to proceed with the World Cup qualifying schedule, which was problematic due to North Korea's sudden notification of "no home games."
Some Japanese media predict their own confiscation victory as it is not easy to organize additional games during the June A-match period if the schedule is postponed.
The game was originally supposed to be held in Pyongyang.
North Korea and Japan were tied together in Group B of the second Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North and Central America World Cup.
Japan beat North Korea 1-0 in the third round at the New National Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
According to the home-and-away method, the fourth game was scheduled to be held at Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang on the 26th, but suddenly, the North has expressed that it is difficult to hold a home game.
It is not known why North Korea expressed objection to the home game. John also kept silent and was mentioned only as "inevitable circumstances" in AFC's announcement.
In this regard, Japan's Kyodo News analyzed, "Japan's 'malignant infectious disease' is being reported in North Korea," adding, "It seems to be a quarantine measure that is wary of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), which is increasing in number of infections in Japan."