North Korea wishing to repeat spirit of 1966 World Cup

February 1, 2010

North Korea sensationally overcame the traditional Asian superpowers of Iran and Saudi Arabia to qualify along with neighbours South Korea as well as Japan and Australia from the Asian qualifying rounds. Even within Asian football, the North Koreans have a reputation, a reputation that was cemented when they stunned the football world 44 years ago to reach the quarter-finals in their first attempt in the World Cup.

Step forward North Korea’s very own miracle maker, Kim Jong-Hun, the home-grown football coach who has moulded a team of apparent no-hopers into a combative side that has been very difficult to break down at the back and extremely dangerous on the counter.

“I think our team did a fantastic job to qualify from a very difficult Asian qualifying campaign and to reach our first finals since 1966, when I was only ten years old and looked up to the team as my heroes,” Kim Jong-Hun said.

“Now, of course, we have been drawn in a very tough group with Brazil, Portugal and the Ivory Coast. These are all very strong teams, and I don’t think we can say any one of them is better than the other. They each possess a great squad of high quality players. We, on the other hand, will focus on our strengths: we will show our great team spirit.”

Indeed, the team can be compared to the Greek team of Euro 2004 in terms of style and tactics. There is an almost obsessive focus on defensive discipline and a keen work ethic fostered in no small part by the man on the sideline, who almost seems to frighten his team into disciplined displays. The contrast with his off-field displays is delightful. Here, he takes no credit at all for North Korea’s recent turnaround in fortunes, which has also included an impressive sweep of regional women’s football titles.

“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 favourites, but neither was our team in 1966.”

At the World Cup in England 44 years ago, the North Koreans stunned Italy 1-0 before coming undone 5-3 in an epic quarter-final against Portugal, despite leading the game 3-0. This year in South Africa, they face a mouth-watering opener against Brazil in Johannesburg before facing Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in their second game. Neither Ronaldo nor Kaka should expect too much room to manoeuver, with the North Koreans famous for their low-scoring results.

I think you can’t compare them to Brazil. But it’s great that they’ll be there - they should enjoy it and be an example to other youths in their country. People will get attracted to football so you get more and more people interested and that is a great thing for North Korean football. However, I still believe they may have one chance to qualify for the second round: Try their best to concede less goals in their first game, limit Ronaldo’s performance and get a draw in the second game, as we know there are not too many good strikers in Portugal apart from him now. Finally, try to win their last game when they play with the Ivory Coast. According to the accomplishment in the African Nations Cup recently, North Korea should have a chance to beat their last rival.

For Kim Jong-Hun, though, making the World Cup finals alone will not do. The wily tactician is already working on the seemingly impossible: emulating his childhood heroes of 1966.

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