The following is pasted directly from Soccernet's coach profile of Kim Jong-hun: "It has been suggested that North Korea leader Kim Jong-il gave the coach advice on how to reach the World Cup. Kim Jong-Su, the general secretary of the North Korean FA, has said the Dear Leader gave 'in-depth guidance' on how to develop the game in the country and the coach himself has claimed he received regular tactical advice during matches, apparently using mobile phones that are not visible to the naked eye."So, to reiterate, on the one hand I'm not accustomed to rooting for the PRK. On the other hand, they're completely loony and 151-ranking-slot underdogs.
[PRK Coach Kim on a striker bizarrely disqualified for being registered as a goalkeeper]: "He (Kim Myong-won) was a striker and now he's registered as a goalkeeper. He is really a goalkeeper but he's really fast, so we switched him to a striker. But this World Cup, he said he wanted to be a goalkeeper again."
And while I'm in the process of posting this, Brazil goes up, 1-0 ("jibber-nil").
The WSJ noted some bits of defying conventional wisdom that are either insane or crazy like a fox. Not understanding soccer, I don't know which, but I enjoyed hearing about them.
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704009804575309252648077246.html
That DPRK goal was a pretty one, though!
ReplyDeleteHe has not been disqualified, but if he plays it MUST be as a keeper.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite factoid is that since North Koreans cannot travel to cheer on their team, the North Korean gov't have hired people to wear NK shirts and "cheer" for NK. Awesome.
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