a At stake is the next World Cup when Japan and North Korea meet in the first of two qualifying matches on Thursday as one of international soccer’s fiercest rivalries resumes. It’s not just the right to participate.
Despite the large differences in the economic situation of the two countries and the popularity of their domestic leagues, the match at Tokyo’s National Stadium is expected to be a bye for Japan, which is ranked 18th in the FIFA rankings, 96 places higher than its opponent. Very few people do.
Talks between the two countries have always been about more than football. On the one hand, former colonial powers are allied with North Korea’s archenemy, the United States. The other is a dictatorship that launched ballistic missiles over Japan and abducted dozens of citizens.
Experts predict Samurai Blue will win in front of a highly partisan crowd, but his return match five days later at the 50,000-seat Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang will be in unfamiliar territory. become. With just a week to go until kickoff for the second match, it was unclear whether North Korean supporters (mainly military and party elites) would be allowed to enter.
Geopolitics is never far away when two teams face off. Qualifying for the 2026 tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, comes shortly after North Korea test-fired a short-range ballistic missile and the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, oversaw a live-fire nuclear training exercise. A capable rocket launcher designed to target Soul. Kim said this week that the country’s 1 million-strong military should be “prepared for war.”
Visiting athletes, who are allowed to travel as an exception to sanctions that prohibit North Koreans from entering Japan, are not without support. The expected crowd of 68,000 will include several thousand members of Japan’s 150,000-strong North Korean community, many of whom lived in Tokyo during its colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. They are the descendants of people who were forcibly taken to Japan during the Japanese colonial era.
The 4,000 tickets for the seats on the North Korean side of the stadium sold out immediately, but the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (North Korea’s de facto embassy) issued an appeal to ethnic minorities. Resident in Japan South Koreans with ties to North Korea will be cheering on the visitors.
Lisa Ho, a North Korean living in Tokyo, said she planned to support the visitors on Thursday. “I love Japanese soccer players and usually support Japan, but not when they play against North Korea,” Ho said as he entered the crowd at the National Stadium.
“It’s complicated and I feel a little conflicted, but when it comes to the national team, I want to support North Korea,” Heo added, predicting frank exchanges between rival supporters on Thursday. “The political context means these games are always advantageous.”
As for the result, Ho predicted a 2-1 victory for Japan, but still believed North Korea would advance to the World Cup finals. “North Korea is making a lot of effort to strengthen its sports teams, and that includes soccer,” she said, adding that Kim, known for his love of NBA basketball, also followed soccer.
North Korea has historically punched well above its weight in international soccer. At the 1966 World Cup in England, the little-known team defeated Italy 1-0 in the decisive group game, before losing 5-3 to Portugal in the quarter-finals after leading 3-0.
The results against Japan suggest that the results of these two games are far from a fait accompli for the Samurai Blue, who started their World Cup campaign with comfortable wins over weaker teams in Asia, Syria and Myanmar. The two countries have met 20 times since 1975, with the men’s senior teams each winning eight and drawing four.
In past matches between North Korea and Japan, there have been times when mutual hostility spilled over onto the pitch. Japan’s U-23 national team’s 2-1 victory over North Korea at the Asian Games last October was marred by clashes between members of the losing team and match officials and security staff.
North Korea coach Shin Yong-nam said after the game, “I admit that the players were a little too excited during the game, but that’s soccer.” “However, conflicts are inherent in the game of football…I think our actions were acceptable.”
When the two countries’ women’s teams played in Tokyo last month, North Korean fans painted a corner of the stadium red, waving flags and calling on the players to “defend the dignity of the republic.” This is a reference to North Korea. The official name of South Korea is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Like other athletes from the secretive country, the players were confined to their accommodations, training grounds and stadiums, and were prohibited from speaking with Japanese or Koreans, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
A match between a Korean team and a Japanese team may arouse mixed emotions among young Korean residents in Japan.
“I was born and raised in Japan, so to be honest, I knew the names and faces of Japanese players better than the North Korean players I saw on TV,” said former North Korean national team player Ahn Yong-hak. told Agence France-Presse. -Press this week.
“But I am Korean and my name is Ahn Yong-hak. I consider the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to be my national team, and I have always worked hard with that in mind.”
Ahn sought to downplay the historical and political tensions that make this one of the most anticipated qualifying matches as North Korea seeks its first World Cup appearance since 2010.
Recalling his team’s injury-time loss to Japan in 2006 World Cup qualifying, he held out hope that whatever the outcome Thursday, fair play would prevail.
“After that game, we all shook hands and waved to the Japanese fans,” Ahn said. “It was a great match that exceeded the result. I hope it will be the same this time as well.”
Agencies contributed to the report
