2010 FIFA World Cup: Brazil Vs North Korea
In this Group G match – or the “mismatch” – we had on one side five times world champions who have played in all the nineteen editions of the FIFA World Cups whereas their opponents North Korea (or Korea DPR as their official name) have only been able to qualify for this showpiece tournament once before, which was back in 1966.
This call of “mismatch” can be justified as Brazil are the top ranked team in the FIFA World Rankings whereas North Korea are ranked lowest among all the participants of the 2010 World Cup at 105th position which is officially the biggest difference in rankings of the two opponents ever in a World Cup game.
But make no mistake here, North Korea were as strange qualifiers in 1966 as they are this time around and if they could repeat some of their feats from 1966, it would be some achievement. Back then North Korea beat Italy in the group stage to reach the quarter finals where they were leading 3-0 at one stage only to be beaten 5-3 by the Eusebio-inspired Portuguese team. Coincidentally, 1966 was also the last World Cup when Brazil failed to progress through the first stage.
Thirteen matches of the 2010 World Cup had already been played prior to this one but the tournament has yet to come to life with only Germany’s performance against Australia attracting some notice. Many would be thinking that they would be treated with a goal fiesta in this hot favourites versus minnows encounter but they need to be reminded that the North Koreans have the best defensive record among the Asian teams playing in the tournament. OK the opponents were not as good as Brazil but North Koreans are very capable of giving their opponents a run for their money before giving anything away. And so they did to the Samba boys.
North Korea had not only parked a bus in front of their goal mouth but were actually the first of the two teams to get a shot on target. North Koreans had deployed a five man defensive line that had congested the final third of the pitch for Brazilians with Luis Fabiano, Kaka, Robinho and Elano finding it difficult to penetrate through the wall. It has to be said that we have yet to see such an organised defensive line in the tournament, which was on show by the North Koreans in the first half. They were not afraid of going forward and showed much endeavour in hitting the Brazilians on counter attacks, although in small numbers and keeping the defense intact. The first half ended as it had started and there surely were butterflies in some Brazilian stomachs on concerns of getting all three points from this match.
In the second period, Brazilians started to play with more width which was seriously lacking earlier. Ten minutes into the second half, Brazilians finally made the breakthrough when Maicon got an overlapping pass which he hit almost from the goal line, between the North Korean goalkeeper and the goalpost and into the goal. Only Maicon knows if he really intended to shoot at the goal or cross the ball to his team mates waiting in the penalty area.
Best individual performance of the match came from Robinho who was involved in every Brazilian move forward and it was on his delightful through ball that Elano doubled the lead and put it beyond the North Koreans. Jong Tae-Se, who is known as the Asian Wayne Rooney in that part of the world, was the best North Korean player on field and justified his title with continuous, energetic runs forward. North Koreans got a deserved consolation goal in the dying minutes through Ji Yun-Nam.
Brazil face Portugal next while North Korea will play Ivory Coast. With the level of performance the North Koreans put in their first match they will definitely have a big say in who qualifies from this group.
Tags: