Category: NK

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Juventus and Inter Milan after North Korean Star, Claims Agent

North Korean youngster Han Kwang-song has been attracting a lot of interest from clubs in Europe and his agent has confirmed that Inter Milan and Juventus are some of the clubs who are trying to sign him in the January transfer window. The Cagliari forward was able to come up with seven goals in just 17 games while on loan at Perugia, who play in the second division, when he spent the first half of last campaign on loan at the club. He has since come back to Cagliari for the 2018-19 campaign but did not manage to score a goal in seven league games. As a result, the North Korean youngster has been loaned out back to Perugia.

His agent Sandro Stemperini, though, claims thatKwang-song could soon be playing alongside the likes of Mauro Icardi or Paulo Dybala considering the interest shown by Juventus and Inter Milan in the recent weeks. He has claimed that there have been discussions between Cagliari and Juventus. Prior to making the switch toPerugia,Han Kwang-song had come up with only five Italian top flight appearances for Cagliari. He also became the first player from North Korea to come up with a goal in the top flight of Italian football. He has featured in two games for the North Korean national team.
Continue reading “Juventus and Inter Milan after North Korean Star, Claims Agent”

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North Korea Lose against UAE in Asian Games Quarter-Finals

North Korea suffered a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of UAE in the recent Asian games football tournament. The two teams were facing each other in the quarter-finals of the competition. Both teams were trying to set up a semi-final date with Japan but UAE were able to emerge out on top. The game finished as a 1-1 draw after normal time. UAE do have experience when it comes to penalty shootout and this certainly had its say in this match. This was the second consecutive shootout victory for the Middle East team. North Korea were able to claim a narrow 1-0 win over Junior Whites in the Asian games that happened in South Korea.

Now, UAE have been able to sneak through in yet another round. They were able to reach beyond the group after having finished as the third place runner up. The victory over East Timor is the only success for UAE after defeats against Syria and China. Kim Yu-song was able to give North Korea a major boost in the game when he put them in front after 63 minutes. He was able to convert the cross fromKang Kuk-chol. However, UAE were back on level terms after just four minutes, as North Korea were unable to hang on for much longer. A similar cross led to Ali Yahyaee providing the equaliser.
Continue reading “North Korea Lose against UAE in Asian Games Quarter-Finals”

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Tae-Yong Say South Korea at a Disadvantage against Mexico due to Weather

Shin Tae-Yong has been criticised of coming up with a defensive approach even before stepping into the game against Mexico, as the South Korea coach says that the weather in the game between the two nations will be favouring Mexico. It is expected to be hot weather at the Rostov-on-Don. Mexico and South Korea will be taking on each other in a group match. South Korea are in desperate need of a three-point return in order to stay in the competition. The Asian team lost 1-0 against Sweden in the opening group match and this has put in a lot of pressure on the team to get a positive result against Mexico.

Since South Korea are up against Germany in the final group match, there is little hope of the national team picking up points against the defending world champions. Hence, they have to place a lot of faith on taking points against Mexico, who are certainly not an easy opponent by any stretch of the imagination. Juan Carlos Osorio’s team were able to beat Germany in the opening group match to create in the best result of the competition so far.Tae-Yong says that the hotter climate in the upcoming game will favour a Central American team like Mexico, while South Korea will have to put behind their recent poor form in order to have any chance of getting a positive result.
Continue reading “Tae-Yong Say South Korea at a Disadvantage against Mexico due to Weather”

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Arsenal and Everton Taking a Look at North Korea Starlet

North Korea could have a major player in the Premier league if reports are to be believed.

Several top English outfits like Arsenal and Everton have reportedly sent scouts in order to take a look at the country’s most prolific youngster – Han Kwang-Song.

At just 19 years of age, he has been making a lot of impact in the world stage. He is currently with Perugia in the Italian Serie B, and is hoping that his impressive performances catch the eye of the very top teams, who are playing in European football. It is understood that Arsene Wenger is very keen on the 19-year-old who has been able to score four goals in his three games for Perugia.

He made the switch to Perugia only back in August and he plays for Cagliari. The Italian Serie A outfit decided to loan him to the second division team in order to get him experience about playing in the first team. At just 19 years of age, it may take a while before he starts to make an impact at the first team of a major club. Cagliari are at the risk of losing the player, as they have inserted a buyback option at the time of sale. Continue reading “Arsenal and Everton Taking a Look at North Korea Starlet”

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Andersen Reveals Desire for the World Cup Final Qualification with North Korea

JoernAndersen says that he has been able to fulfil his long-standing ambition of becoming a coach in Asia as he took over at North Korea recently.

The Norwegian, however, says that he would have never imagined that the possibility of being in charge of one of the most unique countries in the world. The 54-year-old surprised the world when he took charge of North Korea, and he is the first foreign coach for the national team in more than 25 years. Now, Andersen has set his sights upon getting the national team into the World Cup finals for a third time.

He has revealed about the situations that led to his appointment as the North Korean national team manager. The country made headlines when they reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup 1966 which was held in England. However, they have not been able to make much of an impact at the international scene since then. Continue reading “Andersen Reveals Desire for the World Cup Final Qualification with North Korea”

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South Korea´s UliStielike talks about his decisions against Iraq

On June 7 of 2017, South Korea faced off with Iraq in a friendly match that resulted with neither national sides being able to score a single goal which is a fairly underwhelming and slightly surprising result if anyone takes into consideration the fact that the Korean squad is currently positioned at the 43rd spot in the FIFA rankings while Iraq is in the 120th position.

The FIFA rankings has traditionally been critiqued for the way that it evaluates national teams and results but nonetheless it’s just a system that evaluates the performances from squads at the international stage whether or not how accurate it actually is, is up for debate.

When the friendly match between South Korea and Iraq was over, the 62 year old German tactician revealed details concerning some of his decisions that were made prior and during the actual match as UliStielike said:

“I ordered the players to stick to the back three because we might have a situation to use the formation in the future. In the first half, the players weren’t aggressive because of the new formation and also the hot weather. In the second half, they played with a familiar formation, so our game got better.” Continue reading “South Korea´s UliStielike talks about his decisions against Iraq”

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South Korea Could Team up with North Korea to Co-Host 2030 World Cup

South Korea are open to the prospect of co-hosting the 2030 World Cup finals alongside China, Japan and arch-rivals North Korea.

The Korean nations are technically at war with each other over the past few decades despite splitting up back in 1948.

North Korea have illegally tested nuclear weapons against the will of the United Nations, and this has not gone well with their fellow neighbours. With the World Cup likely to involve 48 teams from 2026, countries in each continent may have to combine to plot respective bids for the showpiece event.

USA, Canada and Mexico look the most likely to host the 2026 World Cup, and this has urged South Korea to look into the event four years later, which could involve their Asian counterparts. Japan and South Korea hosted the showpiece event back in 2002 which Brazil won against Germany thanks to a brace from Ronaldo.

South Korea also achieved their best ever finish in a World Cup in the same tournament as they eventually achieved a fourth place finish after losing out to Turkey in the Bronze medal match. While the close neighbours are yet to come to peace, South Korean FA President Chung admits that the country could host the 2030 event with or without the controversial North Korea. Continue reading “South Korea Could Team up with North Korea to Co-Host 2030 World Cup”

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NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA PLAY DRAW IN QUALIFIER

The divides of Korea met in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifier.

The game was hosted by the North and it ended in a 1-1 draw. Over 40,000 fans came out to see the game in the DRK capital city Pyongyang.

The landmark match required a lot of planning and security, considering the tensions between both sides. South Korea asked for security guarantees for players and officials before the trip was approved. Both nations met earlier for ice hockey in Gangneung before the South Korean women soccer team made the trip.

North Korea women are revered in Asia. They are three times winners of the Women’s Asian Cup and are among the top ten teams in the world based on FIFArankings. Their Southern counterparts are in 17th in the rankings.

Many expected the hosts to run away with a victory but they failed to do so. They had the chance to go ahead early in the game but they missed. It was Sung Hyang-Sim that opened the goalscoring in the injury time of the first half. They did not consolidate their lead before Jang Seul-Gi equalized following a scramble later on. Continue reading “NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA PLAY DRAW IN QUALIFIER”

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South Korea has appointed former Fulham player as their new assistant coach

Seol Ki-Hyeon is a former professional footballer who used to perform with various European clubs including: Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham, just to name a few.


He has recently been appointed as the new assistant coach of the South Korea national football team.

The technical director of the Korean Football Association is Lee Yong-soo and he revealed a few details concerning the appointment of Seol Ki-Hyeon as he said:“Having spent much of his career in Europe, Seol will be able to understand how a foreign manager works. He also brings a lot of football knowledge and experience to the table and this will be a big help to Stielike.”

Ki-Hyeon has the task of helping the head coach Uli Stielike in pushing the South Korean national side to new heights and hopefully not only make them qualify for the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup but also get past the group stages as they have struggled trying to make it past those early stages of the worldwide football competition.

The South Korean national side couldn’t make it past the group stages from 1986 until 1998. That’s a total of 4 FIFA World Cups where the Asian nation had to settle with the same position in successive tournaments.

The furthest placing that they have managed to secure was the 4th spot which occurred during the 2002 edition of the FIFA World Cup but after that, South Korea once again continued with their tendency of not making it past the group stages as they snatched that position in 2006 and in 2014. Continue reading “South Korea has appointed former Fulham player as their new assistant coach”