North Korea World Cup Team Blog

North Korea Arrives in France for Friendlies

Alan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:43:07 +0000

North Korea are back in Europe after a 43 year absence. The Chollima will play three games in France over the next week starting Friday with a tie against Nantes. An international friendly against Congo is scheduled for next Wednesday. No doubt scouts for the major European teams will be taking notes. If they are wise. The PRK will be in top condition and form come the World Cup. Any slackers will be duly disposed of.

http://www.fcnantes.com/accueil.php

North Korea Fail to Show for Friendly Against Oman

Alan — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:22:10 +0000

North Korea failed to show for a scheduled friendly with Oman on September 5. A letter to the Oman Football Association explained that several of the North Korean players had been affected by food poisoning, while training in China. During the qualification process, North Korea accused South Korea of poisoning its food before their game in Seoul. The food poisoning excuse may be part of plans to keep North Korea out of sight before the Finals in 2010, banking on the tactic that the less the world knows about the DPRK game and players, the more likely the DPRK is set to shock and stun unprepared opponents. Recently, in a rare interview with FIFA, national team coach Kim Jong Hun, sounded confident. “We will prove that we are not going to the World Cup just to make up the numbers. We are confident about competing against the best teams.”

Hong Hyon-Chol, coached the DPRK in the 1990’s, and he explained the tactics that North Korea will deploy in the Finals, “While the global trend is attacking football, we stick to our largely defensive strategy with the 5-4-1 formation, mainly because this is the tactic which best suits our players.”

North Korea will enter South Africa with more defenders than any other team, maybe half of the entire squad. But can they score goals? Many expect the DPRK to vanish after the first round. I doubt it.

A Little Zoom Goes A Long Way – North Korea 1966

Alan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:31:24 +0000

1966. Swinging London, the Stones, and all mod cons, the World Cup was coming to England and in Middlesborough in the north of the country, it was still raining. Ayersome Park, the city’s stadium, would have been better named Tiresome Park. Middlesborough FC, the local team, were dire. The fans had been carrying gloom and doom for years. Out of sympathy for the forgotten far north, FIFA had chosen the city as a venue for the first round of the tournament. They stuck North Korea there.

The British had no idea how to handle the DPRK in 1966. This was the Cold War and North Korea had no diplomatic relations with the UK. There was no band to play the Korean anthem, as Britain refused to recognize them as a country, thanks to the need to keep up the “special relationship” with the Commie-hating Americans. But the burghers of Middlesborough had other ideas. They took North Korea to their hearts. They came to games with North Korean flags, mobbed the players after the match, and threw civic receptions for them. Girls in lipstick lined up with bright eyes for the Korean players. The Teesiders knew a hungry underdog when they saw one. They needed something to cheer. And Korea was about to gnaw on some big bones.

Italy was chewed up first, devoured by the Korean style of all-out-attack. Only the goalkeeper stayed in front of enemy lines. They bombed their way through to the quarter-final in Liverpool against European powerhouse, Portugal. Thousands traveled from the North East to Merseyside to support the Koreans. After twenty minutes, the world was in shock – 3-0 to North Korea. A blistering display of speed football brought Portugal to its knees. Korea continued shifting up the gears. They had no inclination to slow down and hold on to the lead. They didn’t know how to. This let Portugal back into the game, and Eusebio took command, pulling Portugal to a 5-3 win.

Before they left their homeland to travel to England, their great leader Kim il-Sung, had told them to win for the glory of Korean Communism and the colored people of the world. Speed, teamwork, and bravery had carried them far, and pedestrian European football had learned a lesson. Zooming waves of attacks paid off, if you could defend too. The origins of the seventies Dutch game of Total Football can be found in North Korea, 1966.

A fabulous documentary titled The Game of Their Lives by Daniel Gordon tells the story of the 1966 North Korean team. Well worth finding. Check out highlights from the famous quarter-final against Portugal here.
Magic stuff, great commentary.

Negotiating the DPRK and the DMZ

Alan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:00:55 +0000

North Korea don’t give in. They fight to the last man. And when you have football thriving in a secret society, get ready for some big surprises. North Korea are destined to be the shock team of South Africa 2010. They have all the ingredients in place to deliver a massive blow to their opponents. Countries that assume North Korea’s weakness in FIFA’s rankings will follow them on to the field will be going home early. North Korea are going to party like it’s 1966.

They were the stuff of legend, dumping Italy out of the tournament, and leading 3-0 against Portugal in the quarter-final only to lose 5-3. Forty-three years ago, they invented the all-out attack, only the goalkeeper stayed behind. The pedestrian tactics of sixties European football were shredded as waves of assault overwhelmed defenses. Now in 2010, North Korea plan a new path to victory. A system built on a defense as impregnable as the DMZ near the 38th Parallel, the dividing line between the two Koreas. Add a quality strike capability and fast breaks loaded with stamina and fitness, and it’s easy to see why North Korea are destined for the second round of the tournament, and possibly beyond.

The team’s Coach Kim Yong Hun, thinks outside the box. In the final qualifying match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, he sent on attackers with fifteen minutes to go, and with the game tied at 0-0, it was the result the DPRK needed. Throwing on more defenders seemed the logical choice but he knew adding extra bricks to a solid wall was pointless, and potentially unstable. Attacking kept the Saudis anxious, they knew a scoreless tie would secure them a play-off berth, and a pass to the exit for their rivals Iran. The tactics worked. Kim was carried aloft after the final whistle, and back in Pyongyang his seat at the top table was being prepared.

The Chollima, as the North Korean team is called, have a full year to prepare for South Africa. The winged horse of Korean self-reliance will be at full gallop, and in majestic flight come the day they set off to shock the football world.