Soccer World Cup 2010 / North Korea

This article covers the North Korean national soccer team at the 2010 Soccer World Cup .

qualification

The team qualified for the World Cup in South Africa via the AFC qualifying games , the qualifying games of the Asian Football Association .

North Korea started right away in the first qualifying round, where they continued against Mongolia with a total score of 9: 2 on the two legs.

Since of the 19 winners of the first qualifying round only the eight worst-placed teams according to the Asian ranking made it to the second round, North Korea immediately advanced to the third qualifying round, where it met South Korea , Jordan and Turkmenistan in Group 3 . As runners-up behind South Korea, the North Koreans made it into the fourth round.

In the run-up to the game between North Korea and South Korea on March 26, 2008, disputes arose because the North Korean Football Association refused to play the South Korean national anthem and to hoist the South Korean flag. The meeting of the two teams was therefore moved to a neutral location ( Shanghai in China ) and took place on March 26th as planned. Also in the fourth round, when South Korea was to meet North Korea in the North Korean capital on September 10, the game was moved to Shanghai due to the tense situation between the two countries.

In the fourth qualifying round, the next group stage, North Korea met South Korea, Saudi Arabia , Iran and the United Arab Emirates in Group 2 and in the end qualified for the World Cup in second place behind South Korea.

First round

October 21, 2007 : Mongolia - North Korea 1: 4 (0: 3)

October 28, 2007 : North Korea - Mongolia 5: 1 (3: 1)

Third round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	South Korea	10: 3	12
2	North Korea	4-0	12
3	Jordan	6: 6	7th
4th	Turkmenistan	1:12	1

February 6, 2008 : Jordan - North Korea 0: 1 (0: 1)

March 26, 2008 : North Korea 0-0 South Korea

June 2, 2008 : Turkmenistan 0-0 North Korea

June 7, 2008 : North Korea - Turkmenistan 1-0 (0-0)

June 14, 2008 : North Korea - Jordan 2-0 (1-0)

June 22, 2008 : South Korea 0-0 North Korea

Fourth round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	South Korea	12: 4	16
2	North Korea	7: 5	12
3	Saudi Arabia	8: 8	12
4th	Iran	8: 7	11
5	United Arab Emirates	6:17	1

September 6, 2008 : UAE - North Korea 1: 2 (0: 0)

September 10, 2008 : North Korea - South Korea 1: 1 (0: 0)

October 15, 2008 : Iran - North Korea 2: 1 (1: 0)

February 11, 2009 : North Korea - Saudi Arabia 1: 0 (1: 0)

March 28, 2009 : North Korea - UAE 2: 0 (0: 0)

April 1, 2009 : South Korea - North Korea 1: 0 (0: 0)

June 6, 2009 : North Korea 0-0 Iran

June 17, 2009 : Saudi Arabia 0-0 North Korea

Contingent

Forward Kim Myong-Won was nominated as goalkeeper. Coach Kim tried to outsmart FIFA and take an additional striker with him instead of the usually unnecessary third goalkeeper. The trick backfired, because a player who has been nominated as a goalkeeper can only be used as a goalkeeper according to the World Cup statutes. North Korea does not have an additional striker, just no real third goalkeeper.

Number / name		Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Sp.	goal	red	G / R	yellow
goalkeeper
18th	Kim Myong-gil	Amrokgang sports group	10/16/1984	0	0	0	0	0
20th	Kim Myong-won	Amrokgang sports group	07/15/1983	0	0	0	0	0
01	Ri Myong-guk	Pyongyang sports group	09/09/1986	3	0	0	0	0
Defense
02	Cha Jong-hyok	Amrokgang sports group	09/25/1985	3	0	0	0	0
08th	Ji Yun-nam	Sports group April 25th	11/20/1976	3	1	0	0	0
16	Nam Song-chol	Sports group April 25th	05/07/1982	1	0	0	0	0
13	Pak Chol-jin	Amrokgang sports group	05.09.1985	3	0	0	0	1
14th	Pak Nam-chol	Amrokgang sports group	10/03/1988	0	0	0	0	0
03	Ri Jun-il	Sports group Sobaeksu	08/24/1987	3	0	0	0	0
05	Ri Kwang-chon	Sports group April 25th	04.09.1985	3	0	0	0	0
21st	Ri Kwang-hyok	Kyonggongop sports group	08/17/1987	0	0	0	0	0
midfield
17th	Ahn Young-hak	Ōmiya Ardija (JPN)	10/25/1978	3	0	0	0	0
06th	Kim Kum-il	Sports group April 25th	10/10/1987	2	0	0	0	0
22nd	Kim Kyong-il	Rimyongsu sports group	12/11/1988	0	0	0	0	0
15th	Kim Yong-jun	Pyongyang sports group	07/19/1983	1	0	0	0	0
11	Mun In-guk	Sports group April 25th	29.09.1978	3	0	0	0	0
04th	Pak Nam-chol	Sports group April 25th	07/02/1985	3	0	0	0	0
23	Pak Sung-hyok	Sports group Sobaeksu	05/30/1990	0	0	0	0	0
19th	Ri Chol-myong	Pyongyang sports group	02/18/1988	0	0	0	0	0
attack
07th	To Chol-hyok	Rimyongsu sports group	07/27/1985	0	0	0	0	0
12	Choe Kum-chol	Sports group April 25th	02/09/1987	1	0	0	0	0
10	Hong Yong-jo	FK Rostov (RUS)	05/22/1982	3	0	0	0	1
09	Jong Tae-se	Kawasaki Frontale (JPN)	03/02/1984	3	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Kim Jong-hun		09/01/1956

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Brazil	5: 2	7th
2	Portugal	7-0	5
3	Ivory Coast	4: 3	4th
4th	North Korea	1:12	0

In the preliminary round of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the North Korean national team met in Group G against Brazil , the Ivory Coast and Portugal . After North Korea managed to score a 2-1 draw against their favorite Brazil in the first group game, they clearly lost to Portugal after unsatisfactory defensive performance. The 0: 7 was not only the biggest defeat of the tournament, but also meant the premature end of the World Cup. After a clear defeat also in the last game, the team remained the only team besides Cameroon without a point win and ended the tournament with the worst result of all 32 participating countries.

• Tuesday June 15, 2010; 8:30 p.m. in Johannesburg Brazil - North Korea 2: 1 (0: 0)
   

• Monday June 21, 2010; 1:30 p.m. in Cape Town Portugal - North Korea 7: 0 (1: 0)
   

• Friday June 25, 2010; 16:00 in Nelspruit North Korea - Ivory Coast 0: 3 (0: 2)
   

Web links

• All matches in the preliminary round at a glance ( memento from September 29, 2010 on the Internet Archive ) on FIFA.com
• FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010: Squad North Korea ( Memento from June 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• 南 ア フ リ カ Ｗ 杯 ・ 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国 代表 応 援 特設 サ イ ト ( Memento from July 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) North Korean World Cup portal at the Football Association of Koreans in Japan (재일본 조선인 축구 협회 / 在 日本 朝鮮 人 蹴 球 協会; in Japanese) .
• 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa North Korean World Cup portal at elufa.net (in Japanese and Korean).