Korea DPR Team for 2010 World Cup

The national football team of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has made it to the FIFA World Cup for a second time proving the fact they have always been one of Asia’s surprise packages. In 1966, the first time the team made it to the FIFA World Cup they surprised everyone by making it all the way up to the quarter-finals, but lost to Portugal (5-3) in a well-contested match.

 

The road to the FIFA World Cup 2010 was not an easy one for Korea DPR, 20 months and 16 games later they emerged though holding a ticket to the FIFA World Cup 2010. The opening rounds of the qualifiers saw Korea take on Mongolia, and going home with easy victories in both games. They finished second behind Korea Republic to qualify for the final round. Korea DPR then took on UAE and earned a 2-1 victory over them before holding Korea Republic to a draw in the next match. Even though they were not so fortunate against Iran losing 1-0, they got back into the game beating Saudi Arabia 1-0. Even though they lost the next game 1-0 to Korea Republic, Korea DPR held on for a draw against Iran and Saudi Arabia in the following two games to earn their spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals tournament.

 

Only one among the entire line-up of Korea DPR plays for a club outside of Japan and Korea. Striker Hong Yong-Jo who plays for FC Rostov scored four times in four games, displaying good form. Japan-based Tae-Se has a lethal combo of power and pace required to break any defensive line-up.Even though the team is slightly lacking in International exposure, Coach Kim Jong-Hun has taught the domestic players a defensive based approach to the game which is focused on discipline and team-work.

 

In 1966, the little-known East Asians went into the match with Italy with confidence and surprised the world with a 1-0 victory to progress into the quarter-finals. The match against Portugal was one of the most remembered in FIFA history as Korea DPR took a 3-0 lead in the first 25 minutes, their luck did not last long as Portugal came back in the game to score 5 times and proceed to the semi-finals.