2010 World Cup
UPDATE 16: DPRK allotted 17,000 tickets for world cup, but uses only 200. According to the Mirror:
Football-mad North Korea will get 17,000 tickets to the World Cup… but NONE of their fans will be allowed to go.
Despot Kim Jong-il will hand-pick just 200 of his pampered party officials to go to South Africa while ordinary people will be left at home.
And in a bitter blow to England’s travelling army of 30,000 fans, we will get 2,000 FEWER tickets than the dictatorship for group stages.
According to officials, Kim Jong-il, 68 – known to the Korean people as the Dear Leader – “proposed the tactics” which helped the little-known side finish second in their qualifying group.
But while he revels in his country’s qualifying for a World Cup for the first time since 1966, his countrymen are banned from flying to South Africa.
About 80,000 fans regularly watched the team’s qualifying campaign. But the 17,386 tickets the country will get for their games against Brazil, Portugal and the Ivory Coast are expected to find their way on to the black market.
It is not known whether Kim Jong-il will fly to the World Cup. But in April Kim Jong Su, of the North Korean Football Association, said: “The Great Leader gave in-depth guidance on the development of Korean football. He proposed the game’s tactics most relevant for the physiological characteristics of the Korean players.”
The official also said Kim Jong-il personally guided the team at the stadium during the crucial draw with Iran in April last year.
He added: “Perhaps there’s no other team in the world who would be fighting with the same dedication to please the leader and to bring fame to their motherland.”
The reason North Korea gets more tickets than England is because they are playing in two of South Africa’s biggest stadiums – Ellis Park in Johannesburg and Cape Town Stadium.
Each country gets 9.8 per cent of the stadium’s capacity.
As England are playing two of their group games in the smallest stadiums, their share is less.
UPDATE 15: According to Yonhap:
North Korea bestowed awards on players and coaches of its national football team for advancing to next year’s World Cup finals, their first entry in more than four decades, state media said Tuesday.
Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, awarded the merit citations and medals in a ceremony on Monday, said the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, an official radio channel.
The football players “brought glory to the homeland and encouraged our military and people who are in a great struggle to build a thriving nation,” the report said.
Among the award winners were Kim Jong-sik and Kim Jong-su, director and a vice director at the Commission of Physical Culture and Sports Guidance. They received merit citations of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and current leader Kim Jong-il, respectively, it said.
The team coach, Kim Jong-hun, and players also received honorary titles of “people’s athletic” or “merited athletic,” the report said.
North Korea qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa for the first time since 1966. In that World Cup in Britain, North Korea beat Italy on the way to the quarterfinals before losing to Portugal.
Read the full article here:
N. Korea awards football team for advancing to 2010 World Cup
Yonhap
Kim Hyun
11/3/2009
UPDATE 14: According to Goal.com Mr. Eriksson will not take the job.UPDATE 10/13/2009: Sven-Goran Eriksson is in talks to manage North Korea at World Cup. According to the Guardian:
Sven-Goran Eriksson and Peter Trembling are heading to east Asia this week to hold final talks on a deal that could see the former England manager become the coach of the North Korea team at next summer’s World Cup.
Trembling, the Notts County executive chairman, is understood to have been involved in talks with intermediaries representing the Football Association of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Those negotiations were with a view to securing the Meadow Lane director of football’s services on loan.
The process is now advanced enough for Trembling and Eriksson to be travelling to Beijing later this week on an eight-day trip. The club chairman is also expected to discuss Chinese business investment opportunities in Qadbak, the British Virgin Islands-registered investment vehicle that owns County.
A source close to the deal confirmed that the trip to east Asia is going ahead and did not deny that Eriksson’s stewardship of the world’s 90th-ranked team was under discussion. North Korea’s embassy in London suggested there might be an announcement in “two or three weeks”.
UPDATE 10/6/2009: The North Korean team has arrived in France for some scheduled friendly matches. According to USA Today:
The [North Korean] government banned the [previous national] team from traveling abroad following defeats to both Japan and South Korea in the qualifying stages for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. The squad returned to the international stage in 1999 but skipped the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, and failed to qualify for the 2006 tournament.
Only a few North Koreans players have signed for foreign clubs and the 19 players reunited in Nantes all play at home.
According to Cadet, their trip in France was made possible by the French ministry of foreign affairs.
“They immediately understood that the purpose of their trip was just about football,” he said.
But the North Koreans will not be free to do as they please during their stay. Some outings as tourists are scheduled for them in Paris and in the Nantes area, but they always will stay together.
UPDATE 9/24/2009: The North Korean football team will play three games in France this October. According to the AFP:
North Korea’s footballers will play three matches in France in October as part of their build-up to the 2010 World Cup, the Asians’ first venture into Europe for 40 years.
The squad will be based near the western city of Nantes from October 5-15, the French organisers Sports Live Agency said.
North Korea, who last qualified for the World Cup in 1966 in England, will take on second division side Nantes at La Roche-sur-Yon on October 9 and the Congo national team on October 13 at Le Mans.
The date for a third game, probably against a French footballer’s union side, is being arranged.
The North Koreans secured their place in the 2010 tournament in South Africa with a 0-0 draw away at Saudi Arabia last June.
UPDATE 7/3/2009: Kim Jong Il masterminded North Korea’s World Cup qualification? According to Russia Today (Successor to USSR Today–like Korea Today):
North Korean sporting officials claim that it was the invaluable tactical advice that the head of the state gave to the players that allowed them to win a ticket to South Africa in 2010, reports Choson Sinbo, a Japan-based newspaper published by the General Association of Korean Residents.
“The Great Leader gave in-depth guidance on the development of Korean football. He proposed the game’s tactics most relevant for the physiological characteristics of the Korean players”, Kim Jong Su, General Secretary of North Korean Football Association, said.
The official also said Kim Jong Il personally guided the team at the stadium in April last year.
According to the newspaper, the Great Leader’s involvement allowed the Korean footballers to show their own game and cope without copying the style of play of the leading Western teams.
Head Coach of the North Korean national squad, Kim Jong Hun, explains the main reason of his men’s success lies in their “exceptional spiritual strength and unity.”
“Perhaps there’s no other team in the world, who would be fighting with the same dedication to please the leader and to bring fame to their motherland,” Kim Jong Hun said.
UPDATE 6/21/2009: The North Korean team came home to a hero’s welcome. Photos here and here. The best is by far this one:
Too bad Kim Jong il could not meet them at the airport in person…
UPDATE: The North Korean team is going to South Africa. From the Washington Post’s Stephen Goff:
North Korea secured its first World Cup berth since 1966. The other automatic qualifiers from Asia are Japan, South Korea and Australia. The Saudis will face Bahrain in a two-game regional playoff in September, with the winner facing Oceania champion New Zealand for a World Cup slot.
Why do I have a sneaking suspicion the North Koreans and Americans will land in the same group in South Africa next summer? Sort of like when the USA and Iran were “randomly” paired in 1998. (How many of you remember the USA-North Korea friendly at RFK Stadium in 1991? The Koreans won, 2-1.)
Other Notes:
1. The Bleacher Report offers a satirical take.
2. More coverage of the game here.
3. If you have not seen The Game of Their Lives, you probably should. YouTube has a trailer here.
4. How come the Koreans get to send two teams to the World Cup? (joke)
UPDATE: 6/6/2009: DPRK draws 0 – 0 with Iran. South Africa still possible. According to the AFP:
North Korea inched closer to their first World Cup finals since 1966 with a gritty 0-0 draw against Iran on Saturday.
But it was not the result newly appointed Iran coach Afshin Qotbi was looking for, with their World Cup fate now hanging in the balance.
The draw edged North Korea level with South Korea on 11 points in Group B, but they have played two games more. The South take on United Arab Emirates in Dubai later Saturday.
Saudi Arabia, who do not play Saturday, have 10 points with Iran languishing on seven points and facing a home game against UAE next Wednesday and then a tough trip to Seoul on June 17 — matches they must win.
Despite the draw North Korea, at the centre of international criticism after its second nuclear test, appeared disappointed after the game in front of a full house in Pyongyang, with players slumping to the ground in frustration.
But ultimately it moved them closer to ending their long wait for another crack at the World Cup.
Time also covers some of the drama behind this game.
South Korea advances to the next round.
Read more below:
North Korea inch closer to World Cup finals
Associated Free Press (AFP)
6/6/2009
North Korea Wipes Out Iran (from the World Cup)
Time
Ishaan Tharoor
6/7/2009
Update 4/6/2009: KCNA publishes their full complaint to FIFA:
A spokesman for the DPRK Football Association, in a statement released on Sunday as regards the serious incident that happened at the football match of the final Asian qualifier of 2010 FIFA World Cup between the DPRK and south Korea held in south Korea, expressed the expectation that the FIFA would examine the whole process of the match and take an appropriate measure.
The statement says:
Main players of the football team of the DPRK could not get up due to serious vomiting, diarrhea and headache since the night on March 31, just a day before the match.
They were healthier than any others in ordinary days and they had their meals only in the place they put up. They were enthusiastic in the training till that day. It can be said that it was beyond all doubt that the incident was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff as they could not get up all of a sudden just before the match.
Moreover, the Oman chief referee was so seriously biased in refereeing at the match that he insisted the ball headed by our player into the goal mouth at about 6 minutes after the start of the second half of the match was not the goal. He also declared that the foul committed by the rival side about 3 minutes before the end of the match was our player’s though it was an obvious foul on the part of the rival side, thus resulting in the loss of our team.
It was something surprising that the Japanese refereeing supervisor tacitly connived at this shameless behavior though he was obliged to ensure the fair refereeing.
The match thus turned into a theatre of plot-breeding and swindling. It is as clear as noonday that it was a product of the Lee Myung Bak group’s moves for confrontation with the DPRK and a deliberate behavior bred by the unsavory forces instigated by it.
We sternly condemn the attitude of the Lee group, which runs the whole gamut of evil doings in violation of the noble idea of sports after betraying its fellow countrymen, as anti-reunification and treacherous moves to incite confrontation with the DPRK. We strongly urge the south Korean authorities to own full responsibility for such serious incident and promptly make an apology for what happened.
The DPRK Football Association will always remain true to the FIFA which regards friendship and peace as its mission and the sports idea. It once again vehemently denounces the south Korean authorities and the unsavory forces responsible for the incident and will closely follow their future acts.
UPDATE 4/4/2009: DPRK protest to FIFA over loss to South Korea:
North Korea protested to world governing body FIFA on Sunday that they were the victims of a South Korean plot which caused them to lose a World Cup qualifier 1-0 to their rivals in Seoul last week.
The North Korean FA said in a statement that their players’ food had been tampered with and that the referee was biased.
“The match thus turned into a theatre of plot-breeding and swindling,” the statement said.
“It is as clear as noonday that it was a product of (South Korean President) Lee Myung-bak group’s moves for confrontation with the DPRK (North Korea) and a deliberate behaviour bred by the unsavoury forces instigated by it.”
The statement said FIFA should “examine the whole process of the match and take appropriate measures” and called on South Korean authorities “to own full responsibility for such serious incidents and promptly make an apology”.
No one from FIFA was immediately available to comment. (Reuters)
UPDATE 4/1/2009: South Korea tops the DPRK in Seoul. Final score 1-0 . The Koreans hold first and second spots in Group B. Read more here and here.
Question: How many other countries would like to be divided so they can send two teams to the World cup?
UPDATE 3/29/2009: The North Korean team has arrived in Seoul for the April 1st inter-Korean qualifier match. According to Fifa.com, the DPRK have a June 6th game against Iran and a June 17th game against Saudi Arabia.
UPDATE 3/28/2009: North Korea looking good for a first World Cup appearance since 1966.
Pak Nam Chol and Mun In Guk gave North Korea a big push in the direction of South Africa on Saturday afternoon in Pyongyang by giving their team a 2-0 win over UAE in their 2010 World Cup qualification clash.
Group 2 rankings: 1: North Korea-10 2: South Korea-8 3: Iran-6 4: Saudi Arabia-4 5: UAE-1 (Goal.com)
UPDATE 1: FIFA has set the September 10 DPRK-ROK World Cup qualifying match in Shanghai (again). Pyongyang is still reluctant to raise the South Korean flag in Kim il Sung stadium. Someone please tell the DPRK foreign ministry that this does not reinforce the image of social strength that the North works so hard to cultivate. Read more here.
Goal.com makes the claim that these political decisions also hurt the team’s chances of winning.
FIFA is neutral, and it will not sanction the DPRK since both teams agree to play the game in Shanghai. More on their decision can be found here.
ORIGINAL POST: As reported earlier, North and South Korea were both drawn into Group 3 in Round 3 qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. North and South Korea tied 0-0 in both games against each other. However, due to Pyongyang’s refusal to raise the South Korean flag and play the South Korean national anthem, the initial Pyongyang home match was moved to Shanghai, where yours truly was able to attend. Pyongyang also tried to have the Seoul home match moved to another city or country before finally abandoning politics and just letting their boys play.
Well, FIFA has drawn groups for Round 4 qualifiers, and both North and South Korea have been chosen for Group 2. This means Pyongyang will have another opportunity to host the South Korean national football team—along with their flag and anthem. What are the odds that Pyongyang will actually host their home game this time around?
Matches are scheduled for September 10 and January 4, 2009. Venues TBD.
