GROUP G
▲Brazil 2 - 1 North Korea
North Korea are talking up their chances of making an impact in the competitive Group G after fraying Brazil’s nerves before going down fighting in their World Cup opener.
The North Koreans went blow for blow with the five-time world champions and it took 55 minutes for their resolute red wall of a defense to be breached by the world’s No. 1 team on Tuesday.
Although Brazil seized the momentum after Maicon’s strike and Elano netted in the 72nd minute, the never-say-die North Koreans were rewarded with their first goal at a World Cup in 44 years in Brazil’s 2-1 win.
Midfielder Ji Yun-nam prompted his poker-faced coach Kim Jong-hun to leap about in excitement as he beat Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar in the 89th minute in a show of his team’s defiance.
“The fact that my players scored a goal against a strong team like Brazil gives me a lot of pleasure,” Kim said. “We didn’t win but we gained valuable experience. We’re going to be more confident, we want to win our remaining games and get through to the knockout stage.”
Ji now holds the distinction of scoring North Korea’s first goal at a World Cup after more than four decades for the reclusive nation, who last played at the global tournament in England in 1966.
“I’m very happy to have scored our country’s first goal in this World Cup,” Ji said. “Brazil are the best team in the world and they are big favorites for the trophy. We played well in the first half, we defended really well and didn’t let Brazil create any chances. But in the second half we had two lapses in concentration and they scored their two goals one after the other.”
The team’s star Japanese-based striker Jong Tae-se was in demand after the game by the world’s media and had to be ushered away by FIFA staff to the waiting team bus.
“I made a few chances and I almost scored. I was disappointed that I didn’t take one of those chances,” said Jong, who is one of three players in the North Korean squad who plays outside of his country.
“But I’m going to try to improve for the next game and score my first goal. Portugal are a top-class team, like Brazil, and it is going to be very hard but we’re going to keep trying to make progress,” he said.
North Korea get their chance to cause an upset against the other Group G hotshots, Portugal in Cape Town on Monday and Ivory Coast in Nelspruit four days later.
Meanwhile, Brazil are blaming North Korean “spoilsport” tactics for their disappointing performance but have promised to do better next time — if future opponents are more obliging.
Coach Dunga and his players said that North Korea’s massed defense simply made life too difficult for the South Americans, who are more comfortable facing teams who open up and attack.
“It was a very complicated match because they closed down the spaces,” said striker Luis Fabiano after Brazil struggled to beat the lowest-ranked side at the World Cup at 105.
“It was difficult for the forwards because there was a sea of Korean players and the ball just didn’t reach the front,” added the so-called “Fabulous One” after completing his sixth international without a goal.
Julio Cesar also complained of the inconvenience caused by the opposition.
“It’s boring to play against a team like that because you have to attack all the time,” he said. “North Korea were trying to play on the counter-attack.”
In central defender Juan’s opinion, it was all typical of modern soccer.
“That’s football today,” he said. “A national team without any sort of tradition at the top level, but who mark well and just worry about defending.”
Dunga, who has turned Brazil into a team which depends on counter-attacks and set pieces for goals, agreed with his players.
“When you meet a team who play attacking football, it allows you to create space,” he said.
“When you play opponents who close ranks, you have to speed up the game, you misplace passes, you have to be persistent, so it’s not easy to play against that sort of team,” he said.
Dunga’s Brazil have thrived against teams who have taken the initiative, especially in the World Cup qualifiers when they won 3-0 in Chile, 4-0 in Uruguay and Venezuela and 3-1 in Argentina.
But they were held to 0-0 draws at home to Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina and Venezuela after their opponents refused to play ball and instead packed their defense.
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