When Ao Tanaka stroked home Ritsu Doan¡¯s cutback in just the second minute of Japan¡¯s World Cup qualifier against North Korea at National Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday, it looked like the Samurai Blue were all set for a comfortable evening.
Hajime Moriyasu¡¯s men were made to dig deep for the three points as the visitors fought back impressively, however, and while Japan ultimately survived a couple of scares to hang on to their 1-0 win, issues on the pitch were already being overshadowed as news broke in-game that the North Koreans were refusing to host the following week¡¯s return fixture in Pyongyang ¡ª which by Saturday would be canceled outright by FIFA
Details were, and still are, a little sketchy on the precise reasons ¡ª North Korea manager Sin Yong Nam pointedly dodged a couple of questions on the matter in the postgame news conference ¡ª but reports suggested that North Korean concerns over the spread of group A streptococcus in Japan were behind the decision.
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