North Korea blows lead in loss to China in men's football

North Korea blew an early lead to fall to China 2-1 in their first match of the men's football tournament at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Wednesday.

North Korea failed to make Choe Kuk's 27th-minute goal stand in their Group B match at Wave Stadium Kariya in Kariya, Japan. Zhang Yuning equalized for China in the 44th minute, and Wu Xi netted the go-ahead marker in the 68th minute.

North Korea will next play the United Arab Emirates at 7 p.m. Sunday and will close out their group play against Iran at 2:30 p.m. next Wednesday. Both matches will be at the Kariya venue.

Coached by Ri Kwang-chon, the North Koreans are trying to win their first Asian Games men's football medal since grabbing silver behind the host South Korea in 2014 in Incheon.

North Korea struck the crossbar twice in the second half — Cho Ryong-il in the 57th minute and Paek Chung-song in the 82nd minute. They outshot China 19-10 and enjoyed a 65-35 advantage in possession in the losing cause.

The two best teams from each of the four groups in men's football will move on to the quarterfinals. South Korea are favored to come out of Group D, but the two Koreas will not meet in the quarterfinals even if they both advance.

The quarterfinals will pit teams qualifying out of Group D against those from Group C. Teams advancing from Group A will meet those from Group B.

Just as the women's team enjoyed strong support from Japanese residents of North Korean descent in their match Monday, the North Korean men played in front of hundreds of dedicated fans in red T-shirts who banged ThunderStix and held up signs with words of encouragement.

Coach Ri apologized to his team's supporters afterward.

"I am truly sorry that we were not able to deliver a good result to our people who cheered so hard for us," Ri said. "Our players will get their act together and reward our people with a good outcome in the next match."

Yonhap