North Korea's sudden withdrawal from the tournament has thrown the future direction of the group stage of the Qatar World Qualifiers Asian Zone 40 tournament, which is about to be restarted, into disarray. How the results will be calculated after the withdrawal has become the center of attention. It not only affects the results and rankings of the other teams in Group 8, where the DPRK team is located, but also the comparative results of the second-place finishers in the other groups.
It is reported that if the DPRK team eventually withdraws from the tournament, it will be calculated on the basis of a "0-3 loss" in all three remaining matches, rather than withdrawing all of its previous results. This means that the second-place status of the other Asian groups will remain largely unaffected.
The reporter understands that due to the continuous changes in the epidemic situation in Asia and worldwide, the AFC has long formulated special rules applicable to AFC competitions during the epidemic according to the relevant FIFA temporary regulations. The rules apply to the epidemic during all the official AFC competitions or a single soccer competition, and the establishment of an epidemic countermeasures sub-committee, specializing in dealing with a variety of special circumstances.
The special rules were adopted at the AFC Executive Committee on September 10, 2020, and some of them were revised at the Executive Committee meeting on March 17 this year. The AFC revised the additions in order to deal with the possibility of withdrawals due to the outbreak of the epidemic. For example, under normal circumstances, withdrawing from a tournament after registration would be subject to disciplinary action, but withdrawals during an outbreak are considered "irresistible factors" and are exempt from disciplinary action. Recently, two clubs from Oman withdrew from the AFC Cup and two clubs from Myanmar withdrew from the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, respectively, and were exempted from disciplinary action.
In response to the situation of the DPRK team, the DPRK team wrote to the AFC last month, citing an epidemic, and announced that they would not participate in the remaining 40-team matches. The AFC Disciplinary Committee is afraid that it will be difficult to penalize the DPRK FA. After the withdrawal, according to the principle of the rules, the game will be awarded as "0-3 loss". Therefore, if the DPRK team really withdraws, according to the schedule, the three matches against Sri Lanka on June 7, South Korea on June 7 and Turkmenistan on June 15 will all be awarded 0-3 losses.
As a result, the opponents in the DPRK's group have a relative "advantage", while the Lebanese team has a "disadvantage", as the Lebanese team has already finished its matches against the DPRK, with one loss and one draw. However, as the results of the DPRK's previous matches are still valid, the entire Group 8 will still consist of five teams. Therefore, this will not have much impact when the second place finishers in each group are compared. If the results of the DPRK's previous matches were to be revoked, it would set off a chain reaction. By choosing to award the DPRK a 0-3 loss for their remaining matches, the impact can be minimized. Of course, if Turkmenistan were to finish second in the group, with three points and a goal difference of three, they would have more or less an advantage when comparing themselves with the other second-placed teams in the group, especially when comparing the teams that finished fourth or fifth in the second-placed group. However, only one or two teams will be affected, unlike undoing all of North Korea's results, which will affect all of the second-place finishers in the group.
From another point of view, the North Korean team, due to the good results of past competitions, even if the reason for the withdrawal of the epidemic, there is still a chance to participate in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers. The AFC will not completely "isolate" the DPRK team. With eight points, the DPRK team is clearly in a better position than the fourth-placed team in the other groups.
If the AFC ultimately issues a resolution that "North Korea withdraws and loses the remaining matches by 0-3", the Chinese team will not be affected. But in any case, the Chinese team is still in control of their own destiny, to always firmly in their own hands, the remaining four games win all, you can successfully out of the 40 strong, into the 12 strong match!
