North Korea at the World Cup

Manager: Kim Jong-Hun
Captain: Hong Yong-Jo
FIFA Ranking: 83
World Cup appearances: 1 – 1966
Best World Cup: Quarter-Finals – 1966

Profile:

North Korea are a surprise addition to the forthcoming World Cup as not many in Asia had given them much hope of having a successful qualifying campaign due to the fact that they were in a very tough group which possessed the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iran who both featured in the very last World Cup back in 2006. Nevertheless, North Korea defied adversity and scraped through by the skin of their teeth virtue of a better goal difference. The fact that the gap was so slim won’t matter to them as they’ve now booked their ticket to South Africa and the country will be euphoric next summer. However, as you can see by their ranking of 83, they aren’t the most talented bunch of players and they would need a handful of colossal displays from their key players if they are to make just their second World Cup a tournament to remember.

Key Player:

Hong Yong-Jo -

Every team needs an inspirational leader and North Korea just might have that in Hong Yong-Jo. He is undoubtedly the most experienced player in the camp due to spending the last two years at FC Rostov, a Russian team in the Premier Division. Unfortunately, he does tend to play a bit-part role at his club but that’s not the case when it comes to International duty.  The 27 year old is not only a natural born leader after leading his country to the World Cup finals but he’s also shipped in with 4 goals in qualification. He finished the campaign as North Korea’s joint highest goalscorer and they will need his goals in South Africa if they are to have any chance of bypassing the groups. 

Qualification:

Sector: Asia
Group: 2
Position: 1st
Win-Draw-Lose: 4-4-0
Goals Scored: 12
Goals Conceded: 4

Qualifying statistics:

- Don’t expect many high scoring games when North Korea are involved. Just one of their eight qualifying games featured three or more goals which was a 2-1 victory over Iran.
- North Korea averaged just under 1 goal a game in qualification and end the group with seven goals from eight games.
- The North Koreans showed their superiority on home soil by conceding just the solitary goal on home turf. That came against bitter vials South Korea in a 1-1 draw in Shanghai.
- Their surprise inclusion in the world cup is made even more baffling when you consider that they’ve only made two appearances in the Asian Cup since 1956.

World Cup Potential: 1/5

Whereas their counterparts South Korea have the potential to be a banana skin for some country’s, the North Koreans lack that threat. To even make the finals is a major achievement in itself but that’s as good as it gets I’m afraid. We expect some of the bigger country’s to cross their fingers and hope they pull out North Korea. However, as you can see from their goals statistics, they do have somewhat of a speciality in defending so maybe a surprise 0-0 draw could be on the cards somewhere.

Current World Cup Odds:         2000/1 – Bet365

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