Japan, which became smaller whenever it met North Korea...U17 World Cup Round of 16 face-off, will it be different this time
Nov 16, 2025
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Japan beat South Africa 3-0 in the round of 32 at Aspire Zone 3 in Doha, Qatar on the 15th (Korea time). North Korea beat Venezuela 2-1 in the round of 32 at the Aspire Zone 4 stadium on the 16th. As a result, the two teams will play in the round of 16 for the quarterfinals on the 19th.
Japan advanced to the round of 32 with two wins and one draw in Group B, which was organized with Portugal, Morocco and Nouvel Caledonia. North Korea finished third in Group G with one win, one draw and one loss against Germany, Colombia and El Salvador, but secured a round-of-three wild card given to the top eight teams in each group to advance to the final tournament. In the round of 32, Japan defeated South Africa, ranked second in Group A, and North Korea produced an extraordinary victory over Venezuela, which was ranked first in Group E.
The gap between Japan and North Korea is more than 100 steps. Japan ranks first in Asia with FIFA ranking 19th, while North Korea is ranked 120th. In terms of objective power, most say that Japan overwhelms North Korea. However, there is a limitation that this difference is bound to be limited to the adult national team. Various variables tend to occur in competitions where national teams of different ages compete. North Korea has already proved it by defeating Venezuela in the round of 32.
In the previous matches between the senior teams, Japan has an advantage over North Korea with 10 wins, 4 draws, and 7 losses in 21 matches. However, it was a series of fierce matches every time. Since the 1990s, Japan has been evaluated as superior to North Korea in terms of capability, but there have been many cases where they fail to show proper performance when they meet North Korea. Whenever North Korea meets Japan, the game has been particularly rough, and Japan has rarely been able to easily play against such North Korea.
Coincidentally, both Japan and North Korea have their best U-17 World Cup results in the quarterfinals. If they win this showdown, they will tie the best record ever, and furthermore, they will be able to see the results of their first-ever semifinal. It is a showdown between the two teams that seems inevitable.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
