Football Can Be a Symbol of Friendship between Middlesbrough and North Korea

Nikita Boksrov narrates a story of how the FIFA World Cup 1966 led to long-lasting connections between the city of Middlesbrough and North Korea. The attitude of the community of the world in 1966, the small country was as cautious as they could. Kim II-Sung’s totalitarian regime didn’t fit well with the values of the Western World. Initially, there had been doubt as to if the team will be let to enter the country and play the game under their flag. 


Continue reading “Football Can Be a Symbol of Friendship between Middlesbrough and North Korea”

South Korea Is to Play a Friendly Match with Colombia Next Month

 

A new head coach has taken the reins of South Korea and one of the upcoming matches planned is a friendly international match with Colombia. This was announced by the national federation of sports on Monday this week. The national federation, also known as Korea Football Association, informed the press that the match between Colombia and South Korea will take place on March 24th.  However, details regarding the venue and timings will be published later.


If we look back at former matches, 2019 was a time when South Korea played Colombia in a friendly match. This had been held at the Seoul stadium, known for hosting World Cup matches. Currently, the head coach position is vacant since Paulo Bento left. He led the country’s team during the 16-round stages of the FIFA World Cup of 2022. This was in December 2022 which ended the four-year run that they had. KFA hopes to announce the replacement of Paulo Bento next month. Continue reading “South Korea Is to Play a Friendly Match with Colombia Next Month”

North Korea Might Host the Next World Cup

 

Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president says he is open to hosting a World Cup in North Korea in an attempt to unite the world. Infantino has given a lengthy speech while the controversial World Cup in Qatar is still in progress, hitting back at the criticism for empathizing with minority groups and accusing the hypocrisy of western media.


The chief from Swiss has that it is beyond the possibility that the showpiece event of football event can someday take place in North Korea. He admitted that previously, he tried to convince the isolated dictatorship to engage as the host of the FIFA tournament. Continue reading “North Korea Might Host the Next World Cup”

North Korea Might Host the Next World Cup

 

Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president says he is open to hosting a World Cup in North Korea in an attempt to unite the world. Infantino has given a lengthy speech while the controversial World Cup in Qatar is still in progress, hitting back at the criticism for empathizing with minority groups and accusing the hypocrisy of western media.

The chief from Swiss has that it is beyond the possibility that the showpiece event of football event can someday take place in North Korea. He admitted that previously, he tried to convince the isolated dictatorship to engage as the host of the FIFA tournament. Continue reading “North Korea Might Host the Next World Cup”

ANALYSIS: HOW SOUTH KOREA QUALIFIED FOR WORLD CUP 2022

South Korea made it an impressive 10 World Cups in a row after qualifying for the finals in Qatar with two group games still to play. A 2-0 win over Syria in Dubai, coming hot-on-the-heels of a 1-0 victory over Lebanon, meant Paulo Bento’s side became the 15th nation to qualify for the 32-team tournament. Talismanic striker Son Heung-min led the way in both the qualification groups scoring seven goals in total and the Tottenham Hotspur attacker now has 34 in 103 appearances for his country.

In Qatar, South Korea were drawn in Group alongside H alongside Portugal, Ghana and Uruguay. Continue reading “ANALYSIS: HOW SOUTH KOREA QUALIFIED FOR WORLD CUP 2022”

WITH HEUNG-MIN SON MAKING A SLOW START TO THE SEASON, DO KOREA NEED A PLAN B?

After the lofty standards he set for himself in his Golden Boot-winning Premier League campaign of 2021-22, it would not be too harsh to say that Son Heung-min has had a slow start to the new season. With six games down in the Premier League, and an additional one in the Champions League, the usually-prolific attacker is yet to open his account this term. Before the appraisal becomes overly critical, it must be said that Son has plenty of credit in his account — not just from last season’s 23-goal haul in the league but throughout his entire seven previous years with Tottenham.

After all, every forward will inevitably encounter a similar drought (Spurs teammate Harry Kane famously appeared allergic to scoring in August previously). It must be noted that Son continues to offer his side plenty in other areas even if he is not banging in the goals at the moment. Continue reading “WITH HEUNG-MIN SON MAKING A SLOW START TO THE SEASON, DO KOREA NEED A PLAN B?”

           SEEKING THEIR 4TH CONSECUTIVE E-1 TITLE AND MORE – KOREA REPUBLIC TEAM

The Korea Republic National Team boasts a strong record in the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, winning three consecutive titles in 2015, 2017 and 2019. In their first match of this year’ s tournament, the team got off to a good start in their bid for their sixth overall title with a 3-0 win over a young and talented China PR side. In that match, they were under fierce pressure from China PR in many instances, but were unfazed and dominated the shots tally, 16-1.

After an own goal in the 40th minute broke the deadlock, KWON Chang Hoon and CHO Gue Sung added goals in the 54th and 80th minutes, respectively, in the second half. At the AFC Asian Qualifiers (Road to Qatar), which ended in March this year, they engaged in a fierce battle for the top spot with Iran in Group A and qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ by finishing second. And during the international match period in June, despite losing 1-5 to Brazil, they managed to bounce back with a 2-0 win over Chile and a 4-1 win over Egypt. Continue reading ”           SEEKING THEIR 4TH CONSECUTIVE E-1 TITLE AND MORE – KOREA REPUBLIC TEAM”

ASIAN CUP: BEST N/KOREA PERFORMANCE REVEALED

North Korea have played five times at the AFC Asian Cup till date and their best performancewas finishing fourth place at the 1980 edition of the AFC Asian Cup in Kuwait. The North Koreans were drawn in Group A alongside Syria, Iran, Bangladesh and China PR.

The North Koreans began their campaign in Group A with a 3-2 win over Bangladesh thanks to the brace from Choi Jae-pil. The goals from Jae-pil within a minute gave North Korea a 2-0lead at the halftime interval. Kazi Salahuddin pulled one back for Bangladesh on the hour mark before Kim Jong-man scored for the North Koreans with two minutes left to play to re-establishtheir two-goal lead. Ashraf Chunnu reduced the deficitfor Bangladesh on the stroke of fulltime to ensure the game ended with a one-goal win for North Korea. Continue reading “ASIAN CUP: BEST N/KOREA PERFORMANCE REVEALED”

N/KOREA: 1966 WORLD CUP EXAMINED

North Korea made history by becoming the first Asian nation to move past the group stage at the World Cup during the 1966 edition in England. The North Koreans made their mark at the tournament despite the fact that they were making their World Cup debut. North Korea were in Group D alongside Chile, Soviet Union and Italy. They were the only Asian representative at the tournament.


The North Koreans began their maiden World Cup tournament on a bad note after they were thrashed 3-0 by the Soviet Union. Eduard Malofeyev was the star of the show with two goals and one in each half, while AnatoliyBanishevskiy scored the other goal. Malofeyev and Banishevskiy scored within two minutes in the first half with the second Soviet Union goal from the latter coming on 33 minutes. Malofeyev was responsible for the first and last goal of the game with the last one coming two minutes from the final whistle. Continue reading “N/KOREA: 1966 WORLD CUP EXAMINED”

HOW S/KOREA QUALIFIED FOR QATAR 2022

South Korea have already booked their place in this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar. They would be making their 11th appearance at the World Cup stage when hostilities start at Qatar 2022. Their Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification journey began when they were drawn bye in the first round of the qualifiers in the Asian region. They were one of 34 teams to move from the first round to the second round in the Asian region without kicking a ball.


In the second round of the Asian qualifiers for this year’s World Cup tournament, South Korea were drawn in Group H alongside rivals North Korea, Turkmenistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka. They had to officially play six matches in the group after North Korea withdrew from the qualifiers. The five matches played by North Korea in the group before they took the decision were cancelled including the goalless draw at home to South Korea. At the end of the campaign in Group H, South Korea led with 16 points and six more points than Lebanon in second place, while Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka finished in third and fourth spot with nine points and zero point respectively. Continue reading “HOW S/KOREA QUALIFIED FOR QATAR 2022”