North Korea – Problems

March 18th, 2010 | by: Alan | View Comments

(left – The Boss and his defenders)

North Korea’s friendly against somewhat of a Mexico “B” squad has exposed problems that are sure to have been noticed by The Chollima’s opponents in the Finals. The red wall of defenders were caught napping at crucial times, seeming to play positions rather than making tackles on the direct running threat employed by the Mexicans. While the concept of the five man defense is marvelous to consider, North Korea’s coach Kim Jong-hun, will have to plug the gaps if North Korea is to execute its radical plan to make it to the Round of 16. On the positive side, on occasion the Koreans looked sharp on the ball and were willing to let fly at goal on the break. But it’s the defense that will need to cut out the ball watching and start making some tackles.

Last week’s news reports that the country’s Finance Minister had been shot for screwing up what is left of the North Korean economy, it is little surprise that Kim Jong-hun trots off praise like this to the Boss in Pyongyang – “I think it is the result of our Great Leader’s care for our players. Asian players are not so tall, so we try to play to our strengths, to use our style of play which has served us very well in the qualifying campaign. We will defend well, play on the counter-attack with fast breaks forward, and give it our best shot at the World Cup. We may not be the favorites, but neither was our team in 1966.”

Unless the defense is sorted out quick, Kim Jong-hun might be having a few sleepless nights dreaming that a short, fat man in dark sunglasses (Kim Jong-il – the Boss in Pyongyang) is standing over his bed.