On its own way Pyongyang is probably the safest city in all Asia, so why could they not host? I think the matches against South Korea have been played elsewhere since 1990 (that is the only time North Korea hosted South). This year that could change because North Korea will host one of the Women Asian Cup Qualifying groups (so a 10-day tournament inside North Korea) and South Korea is in the same group. There will be lots of international matches played in North Korea this year because in addition to Women and Men Asian Cup Qualifiers they have 2 clubs participating in AFC Cup.
I see this went under the radar: Timor-Leste has been expelled from 2023 Asian Cup due to falsifying Brazilian-born players' documents. http://www.the-afc.com/media-releas...-timor-leste-expelled-from-afc-asian-cup-2023
Group A: Kyrgyzstan India Myanmar Macau Group B: North Korea Hong Kong Lebanon Malaysia Group C: Jordan Vietnam Afghanistan Cambodia Group D: Oman Palestine Maldives Bhutan Group E: Bahrain Turkmenistan Chinese Tapia Singapore Group F: Phillipines Tajikistan Yemen Nepal My predictions: Kyrgyzstan Myanmar Lebanon North Korea Jordan Afghanistan Palestine Maldives Turkmenistan Bahrain Tajikistan Yemen
http://www.thestar.com.my/sport/foo...for-asian-cup-qualifiers-against-north-korea/ Malaysia worries about its players safety in Pyongyang after the Kim Jong-Nam incident. FAM may seek to play North Korea at a neutral venue.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=180445&story_id=47251980&d_str=20170307&sid=8 The Standard Pyongyang travel ban - Cup venue switch eyed as Malaysia's diplomatic row with North Korea deepens Sports | Mar 7, 2017 Malaysia has banned its football team from playing an Asian Cup qualifier in Pyongyang citing security threats as diplomatic relations between the two countries soured dramatically after the killing of Kim Jong Nam. Football Association of Malaysia secretary-general Hamidin Mohamad Amin said that the expulsion of North Korean Ambassador Kang Chol from the country has "made the current situation unsafe for Malaysians to travel to North Korea for the moment." Hamidin said his association has written to the Asian Football Confederation to ask for the venue of the March 28 match to be shifted from Pyongyang to a neutral arena. "The government have asked us not to go to Pyongyang," Hamidin said. Hong Kong and Lebanon have been drawn with North Korea and Malaysia in Group B qualifying, with the top two teams advancing to the finals in the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Kang was expelled over his criticism of the investigation into the killing of Kim, the exiled half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last month at a crowded airport in Kuala Lumpur. Kang said Malaysia was taking "extreme measures" that will do "great harm" to bilateral relations. North Korea disputes Malaysia's determination that the victim was killed by the nerve agent VX. Malaysia has rejected the North's contention that he may have suffered a heart attack. South Korea has blamed the North for Kim Jong Nam's murder, citing a standing order from Kim Jong Un to kill his half- brother. The diplomatic dispute erupted last month when Malaysian police rejected North Korean diplomats' demands to hand over Kim's body. Malaysia has also recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and cancelled a rare visa-free travel deal with North Korea. There have been occasions when international issues caused games in Asia to be played in a neutral country. Saudi Arabia and Iran's lack of a diplomatic relationship means that meetings between their clubs in the Asian Champions League take place in a third country. ============================================================================ So Malaysia are NOT going to Pyongyang and there is a chance AFC will approve for them to play in a neutral venue. If that happens then it is not fair if Hong Kong (and Lebanon) will have to travel to Pyongyang.
I disagree with you. Malaysia has specific current circumstances to be wary of North Korea. If AFC decides to play the game at a neutral venue then it isn't automatic that the others do as well. They may also just opt to reschedule the game.
Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has received a request from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to have the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 final round qualifier against DPR Korea, scheduled for Pyongyang on March 28, 2017, played at a neutral venue. The AFC will seek further clarification and information on the request in order for the decision-making process to take place. Until that clarification is received the AFC will make no further comment. http://www.the-afc.com/media-releas...-malaysia-2019-afc-asian-cup-qualifying-match
The North Korean government declared that Malaysians in North Korea will not be allowed to leave the country. You can understand why FAM made the request, but are Hong Kong the unluckiest team ever? In the previous round, they had to travel to play in a difficult tie against Maldives, but their direct rivals for second spot, China, played their "away" match against Maldives in Wuhan, in front of their own supporters because the Maldives government screwed up the pitch of their national stadium whilst holding a political event.
Kuala Lumpur: The status of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Final Qualifying Round match between DPR Korea and Malaysia, scheduled for March 28, 2017 in Pyongyang, will be decided by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competitions Committee later this week. The move follows the escalating diplomatic tension between the governments of DPR Korea and Malaysia. The AFC will make a further statement in due course on the decision by the AFC Competitions Committee. http://www.the-afc.com/media-releas...ion-on-2019-afc-asian-cup-qualifier-dpr-korea
HKFA CEO Mark Sutcliffe said "If the match (between North Korea and Malaysia) is played in a neutral venue then I agree that the other games due to be played i.e. Hong Kong and Lebanon should also be played at a neutral venue." HKFA said officially that they are paying close attention to the situation and awaiting the decision by AFC.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=180605&story_id=47256021&d_str=20170310&sid=8 The Standard Malaysia-North Korea qualifier should be postponed, says HKFA chief Sports | Mar 10, 2017 Malaysia's Asian Cup qualifier against North Korea should be postponed - not moved to a neutral venue, following the recent breakdown in relations between the two countries, Hong Kong FA chief executive Mark Sutcliffe said. The Football Association of Malaysia have asked the Asian Football Confederation to switch the March 28 fixture from Pyongyang because of the diplomatic crisis caused by the death of the estranged half-brother of North Korea ruler Kim Jong Un in Kuala Lumpur. Hong Kong and Lebanon will also play in North Korea in Group B qualifying for the 2019 Asian Cup, and Sutcliffe said a postponement would better preserve the integrity of the competition. If the AFC did move the match to a neutral venue, Hong Kong would consider making a request for their tie in Pyongyang, scheduled for March 27 next year, to be switched as well, Sutcliffe said. Mark Sutcliffe, good on you. Also if North Korea was so keen on hosting foreign teams, then why have they NEVER hosted the second round of the East Asian Cup?
Dpr Korea – Malaysia game postponed after escalating diplomatic tension https://falebanon.com/2017/03/10/dp...ostponed-after-escalating-diplomatic-tension/
They have always hosted their WCQ and ACQ home matches against other teams than South Korea though. EAFF Cup is a big tournament and helding it in North Korea would be problematic for broadcasting it to China, Japan and SK. I think the situation will be handled like Saudi-Iran crisis: If NK - Malaysia will be played on neutral location (probably Bangkok/Phnom Penh/China) due to diplomatic tensions then also Malaysia - NK will be moved away from Malaysia (Singapore/Bangkok). So Malaysia would not get any advantage compared to NK or HK. Anyway Malaysia want to play it on neutral because worsened relations and that is reasonable (they will not get sporting advantage out of it when both matches are played on neutral). In Hong Kong's case it would probably be the opposite: worsen diplomatic relations in order to not have to travel to North Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_AFC_Women's_Asian_Cup_qualification Hong Kong women team along with South Korean, Uzbek and Indian women teams are travelling to North Korea for a 9 day AFC Asian Cup Qualification tournament next month to play 4 matches each. There is absolutely no problem for HK men team to travel there for a single match even if the hotel is not as luxurous as the men team has used to.
DPR KOREA – MALAYSIA AFC ASIAN CUP QUALIFIER TO TAKE PLACE ON JUNE 8 Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced on Wednesday at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur that the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Final Qualifying Round match between DPR Korea and Malaysia, originally scheduled for March 28, 2017 in Pyongyang, will now take place on June 8, 2017. Following the AFC Competitions Committee’s decision to postpone the match on March 10, the AFC has since written to DPR Korea Football Association on March 13 asking it to nominate a neutral venue by April 14, in the event the bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries have not returned to normal. Should the match be played in a neutral venue, the match between Malaysia and DPR Korea scheduled for November 14, 2017 in Malaysia will also be played at a neutral venue to preserve sporting values and the spirit of fair play. AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John presented the AFC’s match competition principles and the decision-making process, which led to the postponement of the match. He said: “The match has now been confirmed to take place on June 8, 2017, taking into consideration that the first match must be played before the second match day on June 13, 2017 to fulfil the match sequence principle, and the available FIFA Match Days in the AFC Calendar of Competitions 2017.”
Wow, Bhutan. After 15-0 and 12-0, now they lost 14-0. Poor them. Indian giant Sunil Chhetri scored buzzerbeater as they won 1-0 in Myanmar. Huge win.
Group A Myanmar 0-1 India Kyrgyzstan 1-0 Macau Group B Lebanon 2-0 Hong Kong DPR Korea vs Malaysia postponed Group C Afghanistan 1-1 Vietnam Jordan 7-0 Cambodia Group D Oman 14-0 Bhutan Maldives 0-3 Palestine Group E Chinese Taipei 1-3 Turkmenistan Bahrain 0-0 Singapore Group F Philippines 4-1 Nepal Yemen 2-1 Tajikistan
Bigwigs of Asian football are going to be over the moon with that India result. That win will paper over the cracks still present in Indian football and coupled with their 3-2 friendly win vs. Cambodia they are set to climb into the top 100 of the FIFA ranking this month!
They technically have match point in their next game, at home vs Kyrgyzstan. I love this qualification calendar - six straight FIFA windows with one game in each of those. Ideal, way better than double fixtures over three windows. Only thing that makes me wonder is why those aren't played on weekends (each is scheduled for Tuesday).
http://www.thestar.com.my/sport/football/2017/05/18/malaysianorth-korea-tie-on-hold-again/ Malaysia-North Korea tie on hold again PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s 2019 Asian Cup qualifying Group B match against North Korea in Pyongyang on June 8 has been postponed to Oct 5. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that this was due to the geo-political tension on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea were initially supposed to host the Group B game at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang on March 28. But the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) requested for the match to be changed to a neutral venue following a diplomatic crisis caused by the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea ruler Kim Jong-un, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Feb 13. With the latest postponement, the national team, under new Portuguese coach Eduardo Vingada, will start their qualifying campaign against Lebanon at the Larkin Stadium on June 13.
Miodrag Radulovic announces Lebanon's squad for Malaysia training camp. https://falebanon.com/2017/05/28/mi...es-lebanons-squad-for-malaysia-training-camp/
AFC ASIAN CUP 2019 QUALIFIERS: SINGAPORE 1-2 CHINESE TAIPEI http://www.the-afc.com/asian-cup-2019/afc-asian-cup-2019-qualifiers-singapore-1-2-chinese-taipei