Korea DPR bag a trophy

Korea DPR have a won a 4-team tournament. The tournament, which took place 28 December until 3 January, took place in Doha, Qatar.

The team, which in this years World Cup is in the "Group of Death", group G were joined in the tournament by local side Qatar, Mali and Iran.

Korea DPR won their opening match against Mali 1-0 with one of their few players, who's playing their club football in Europe, FC Rostov's striker Hong Yong-Jo grabbing the only goal on 55. minute. The Asian side was the better team through out the match and fully deserved their win with manager Kim Jong-Hun yet again impressing how he has set up his defence, which at times seems unbreakable.

1-0 was also the result in the Koreans second match. This time it was Choe Chol-Man, who's goal sunk the opposition on 59. minute. It was again a solid defensive performance by the Koreans and they took their chance in the attack.

Again the score was 1-0 in Korea DPR's final match, but it was a lost game. Mehrzad Madanchi scored his 7th goal for the Iranian international team. That result didn't have any effect on the tournament outcome though and Korea DPR finished with 6 points ahead of Qatar and Mali's 4, with Iran finishing bottom on 3 points.

Next up for the North Koreans, is Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup in Sri Lanka next month, where the winners will qualify for Asian Cup 2011.

It is interesting to note that their last match, the 1-0 loss to Iran, was their 11th match that has had 2 or less goals since the beginning of 2009. Manager Kim Jong-Hun really likes his side to play defensively solid football. Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast, who today play one of their two warm-up matches for African Cup of Nations versus Tanzania, have to be vary of the hardworking Asians.

Group G overview

Ivory Coast
Portugal
Brazil
Korea DPR

Fixtures:

15/06/2010, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, Ivory Coast vs Portugal
15/06/2010, Johannesburg - JEP, Brazil vs Korea DPR

20/06/2010, Johannesburg - JSC, Brazil vs Ivory Coast
21/06/2010, Cape Town, Portugal vs Korea DPR

25/06/2010, Durban, Portugal vs Brazil
25/06/2010, Nelspruit, Korea DPR vs Ivory Coast

Korea DPR are no doubt cursing their luck regarding the draw. The mighty Brazilians already in the first match! While Didier Drogba's teammates are probably cursing him for jinxing their draw. But to their luck Portugal aren't the side they used to be, so a win in the first match would give a big boost to their qualifying chances. "Brazilian derby", as Dunga cleverly noted, in the last set of fixtures.

Second team will have the joy of facing European Champions Spain in the next round. Brazil will take on the 2nd team from group H.

World Cup banned in Korea DPR!

Korea DPR's leader Kim Jong-il has ordered the national television to not to show matches from South Africa next summer. He also wants to have the local side, Korea DPR, shown as the dominant force in all the matches in highlights.

This means that 99% of the Korea DPR population will never know who won the World Cup, if Korea DPR itself doesn't win it, which is unlikely I think we can all agree.

The Korea DPR matches will be edited to show them as the better side. Also, opposition fans will be blurred out, as well as the advertising boards.

Korea DPR specialist Mike Breen said: "Like everything else, the regime will also have total control over the World Cup. Korea DPR doesn't pay for TV-rights, so the national television can't show the matches. They'll most probably get tapes from South Korea and then edit it heavily, so it would match the regime. Only the upper class, who have access to satellite TV, will be able to watch other matches. Majority of the population will have to settle with one-sided highlights, which will probably be broadcasted days later after the matches. Losses will be ignored, or mentioned very little about them. If Korea DPR gets eliminated, I wouldn't be surprised if the World Cup would even get a mention at all."

Just ridicules that these kinds of regime's still exist in modern days World. And doesn't the DPR mean Democratic People's Republic? It looks more like Dictatorial Power Regime. While I have nothing against Korea DPR something needs to be done about this. The whole censorship is laughable, but the people, who will be represented by their team in a major competition, can't see the matches. It's unbelievable and shocking. I hope FIFA will also discuss this matter in their extraordinary meeting next week.

Asian teams as the whipping boys

Asia no doubt has big potential in sports in general. I mean, look how many World Championships and Olympic medals the Chinese have won in Athletic's and such. But someway they don't seem to perform in team sports and as we all know, football is all about team performance not individuals.

South Korea came close to glory in 2002. Being the host nation, they reached the semis and got into the 3rd place match. Even though they lost it in the end 3:3 to Turkey, thanks to World Cup histories fastest goal scored (10.8 seconds) by the legendary Turkish striker Hakan Sükür, it was looked as a turning point for Asia. But none of the teams that were involved in Germany 2006 (Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia & Japan) managed to get past the group stage, with South Korea coming the closest, even snatching a draw versus France. And it looks to be the same story again in South Africa. Even though the groups are yet to be drawn, I'm willing to bet my house on South Korea again being the best from Asia.

Australia will bring more competitiveness to the region, but I doubt the Aussies will repeat their success of Germany 2006, where they were knocked out by the eventual winner Italy in the first knock-out stage.

Japan are going through a generation change and while there are still some players, who've made a name for themselves in Europe (Shunsuke Nakamure being the most notable one), the squad is largely made up of players playing in the local J-league.

Korea DPR deservedly made it to South Africa, playing some very smart and tactical football under their manager Kim Jong-Hun, but with only a few players playing outside the local league, this will be more of a learning curve for them and they're there just to make up the numbers.

Africa is also the continent that hasn't yet tasted World Cup glory, but in terms of footballing quality they are light years ahead of Asia. Talent plays big part in football and while the Asian players might have physical skills, they are still learning the mental aspects of the game and being a team in general.