Pak doo Ik himself was a soldier and received a promotion to sergeant for his performance.
This was of course a Korean team representing only the northern half of Korea as the country had been divided after World War II into parts influenced by the victorious Soviet Union and United States. Following on from the cessation of violence in the Korean War in 1953 the Korean peninsula was divided roughly along the 38th parallel north of the equator and communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea both settled into nationhood and into the cold war. South Korea was the first to test the waters of the World Cup in 1954 but came home having received severe spankings from Hungary and Turkey. Their neighbours fared far better in 66, having put the Italians away they progressed to the quarter-finals against Portugal and were 3-0 up at Goodison Park before Eusebio bagged 4 goals to help redress the balance and Portugal finished 5-3 winners.

South Korea was the sole representative of the peninsula over the next 40 years as they qualified for Mexico 86 and for every World Cup which followed including of course when they co-hosted the 2002 tournament. Once again Italy fell to a Korean team and the reds coached by Guus Hiddink and epitomised by the fighting spirit of the masked defender Kim Tae Yung became the first Asian team to reach a world cup semi final.

Recent competitive games between the two Koreas have shown that there is very little between them in footballing terms. In 2008 they played out 4 draws, 3 of these in World Cup qualifiers and another in the East Asian championship. Finally in Seoul on April Fools Day of 2009 the deadlock was broken and the southerners recorded a home win. Both teams did qualify for the tournament however as North Korea had a better goal difference than Saudi Arabia.

A prediction on how they will fare in South Africa? Well all I can say for certainty is this, North Korea will win the tournament. Or at least that’s what the people of Pyongyang will be told on their teams return.