North Korea fails to qualify for 2026 World Cup

2025-03-26 Dave Thomson Kim 기자

CHOFU, JAPAN - DECEMBER 09: North Korean players line up for the national anthem prior to the EAFF E-1 Men's Football Championship between Japan and North Korea at Ajinomoto Stadium on December 9, 2017 in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images)

2026 FIFA World Cup North and Central America Asia 3rd qualifying round was held. During this A match, Group C Japan and Group A Iran secured their spot in the upcoming World Cup finals.

Japan became the first country in the world, not just Asia, to secure a spot in the World Cup finals. On the 20th, at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, Japan, they defeated Bahrain 2-0, widening the gap with the 3rd place team in the group by more than 9 points, and secured a ticket to the World Cup finals given to the 2nd place team in each group. The only regret is that they failed to continue their upward trend by drawing 0-0 with Saudi Arabia on the 25th.

Iran also advanced to the World Cup finals by drawing 2-2 with Uzbekistan at 1:00 AM on the 26th. At the Azadi Stadium, which is notorious as the graveyard of away teams, they repeatedly gave up the lead to Uzbekistan, but Mehdi Taremi, who plays for Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A, scored a goal every time and earned 1 point. With this match, the gap with the third-place United Arab Emirates (UAE, 13 points) became 7 points, and their advancement to the World Cup was decided regardless of the remaining 2 matches.

Unlike Japan and Iran, there was a team that suffered the bitterness of elimination early. North Korea, which was in Group A with Iran, lost 1-2 to UAE at Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at 3:15 am on the 26th, and was unable to advance to the World Cup regardless of the remaining matches. North Korea would have been eliminated from the preliminary round if they didn't win, but in the 8th minute of extra time in the second half, when they were tied 1-1, they gave up a diving header to Sultan Adil, who was wearing a bandage due to a head injury.

Kyrgyzstan, which was in danger of being eliminated along with North Korea, managed to revive itself by winning 3-1 against Qatar. It is still 4 points behind Qatar in 4th place, but it can keep its hopes alive until the A-match in June.

In Group C, Indonesia, which replaced Shin Tae-yong with Patrick Kluivert, rose to 4th place with 9 points, gaining an advantage over Bahrain in 5th place and China in 6th place (both with 6 points) in advancing to the World Cup playoffs. However, since China in 6th place will face Indonesia and Bahrain in the A-match in June, the exact rankings will likely be determined after the A-match in June.

Nothing has been decided yet in Group B, which includes Korea. Korea secured only 2 points in the March A-matches, drawing with Oman and Jordan in succession, but Iraq, which is competing for the top spot, only earned 1 point during the same period, which made it easier for Korea to advance to the World Cup finals. If they win the first match against Iraq in June, they can get a direct ticket to the finals. Meanwhile, 6th-place Kuwait has 5 points, but the gap with 4th-place Oman (10 points) has widened to 5 points, but they still have a slim hope.