North Korea’s women’s soccer team suffered a narrow loss to Japan in a make-or-break Olympic qualifier on Wednesday, missing out on its chance to secure a spot at the global sporting contest just months after returning to international soccer.

Japan prevailed 2-1 at home in the second leg of the third round of Asian Olympic qualifiers, four days after the two sides played out a goalless draw in Saudi Arabia. 

With a spot at this summer’s Paris Olympic Games on the line, Japan opened the scoring in the 25th minute. The hosts doubled their advantage with a quarter of