If you can use a laugh, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Football Association has a Twitter feed! My favorite tweet:
AFTER LASTS NIGHTS EXERTIONS THE PLAYERS HAVE A DAY OFF TODAY, THEY WILL BE MAINLY PAINTING PORTRAITS OF OUR DEAR LEADER, KIM JONG IL
Just wonder if we’re being punked . . .
Interesting profile of North Korean attacker Jong Tae-se. Not quite a communist true believer . . .
Joey Maloney
I vote for spoof.
Southern Beale
After watching the Razzy-worthy performance of that Ivory Coast soccer player yesterday, I have to say I have very little respect for the sport of soccer and FIFA. If you are running an international tourney and you allow refs to get away with bad calls like that (not that it mattered but still) and players can so blatantly “dive” … I just think the whole game is rigged and therefore meaningless.
I men heck, I’m a huge NHL hockey fan. They don’t allow diving in the NHL. A player can get thrown off the ice if they try to pull what that Ivory Coast guy did.
Head Like An Orange
A long time lurker, first time commenter… I’ve been thoroughly enjoying your World Cup coverage and in celebration of my enjoyment, I thought I’d drop some old timey football on you.
North Korea vs Portugal – 1966 World Cup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swLNYmcaheg
I hope the link works, I’m new at this…
Notice how most of the players manage to stay upright after contact, a player that hurts himself is miraculously able to use his good leg to hop of the pitch by himself and Eusebio was an effing monster…
r€nato
NBA players dive and flop too, but nothing like soccer players do.
Perhaps it’s because of the low-risk/high-reward of it. The NBA equivalent would be if you were awarded a free throw worth 100 points for successfully selling a flop.
Montanareddog
I see that many of the WC match open threads have spotted the humour emanating from the Guardian’s coverage. Spotted this gag on one of the threads about the turmoil in the England camp:
Uloborus
Not exactly a communist true believer, definitely a Korean from Japan. It sometimes amuses me that there’s so much discussion of racism on this blog. We’re way less racist than most of the rest of the world – which means we’re still pretty damn racist.
…well, we were way less racist until 9/11.
And frankly, high profile communists are few and far between. Traditionally it’s been a credo to keep the peasants in line. Mao and Lenin are the only leaders I can think of who actually believed in it, and Mao was, uh… almost exactly like having Sarah Palin lead a country for decades. Think ‘100 million die in the latest famine caused by believing dogma is more powerful than Science’.
EDIT – That’s not *quite* fair to Mao. He was damn all smart, unlike Palin. He just harbored beliefs like the virtue of armed rebellion 24/7, that strength of will could overcome the laws of nature, and the inherent evil of intellectuals. None of these lead to good governance.
Montysano
Yes. SATSQ.
Ash Can
@Southern Beale: The NHL isn’t quite dive-free, it’s just that the dives are far more subtle. A player who’s getting incidental contact such as a stick against the shin pads or an arm across the shoulder has a decent chance of drawing the penalty if he goes down, especially if it’s a borderline call anyway. (The downside is that you put yourself at a disadvantage, however brief, if you’re off your skates and on the ice, and if the ref/linesman sees through your BS it had better not matter to your team if there’s no stoppage in play and you’re left a few steps behind the guy with the puck.)
Shalimar
Don’t care about this match, but I do think it will be funny if Ivory Coast beats North Korea and Portugal loses to Brazil, but Portugal goes through on goal differential because Kaka and Elano aren’t available for Brazil.
MikeJ
Yet another reason to pity the people of North Korea.
cmorenc
7-0 is a more disgraceful score for Portugal than it is for North Korea. I know Portugal needs some goal differential insurance against the possibility of a loss to the Ivory Coast in the 3rd game (as a tie-breaker if Portugal loses to Ivory Coast), but this sort of excessive humiliation of a weaker opponent is widely considered extremely unsporting in soccer. 4-0 or even 5-0 is ample margin.
vanya
this sort of excessive humiliation of a weaker opponent is widely considered extremely unsporting in soccer.
Not in the opening rounds of World Cup soccer it’s not. Goal differential is critically important since Portugal may not beat Brazil. You have no idea how badly Ivory Coast may beat North Korea – going easy on NK would have been incredibly stupid.
handsmile
Friday morning’s match between Portugal and Brazil will be a tasty affair in large measure because neither will want to face Spain in the Round of 16.
For yet another reason to plan to be struck down with illness on Friday, one of the afternoon matches that day poses Chile v. Spain. I continue to believe that will be the decisive game within Group H.
@ Shalimar: Even with the lamentable absences of Kaka and Elano, Brazil’s squad presents a formidable arsenal of attacking players, e.g., Grafite and Baptiste have yet to take off their sweats.
Has anyone else here been surprised by the relatively restrained performance of Brazil’s fullbacks? Yes, I realize that Maicon scored against North Korea, but I had anticipated that he and Alves were to play a more dominant role in the offensive strategy.
Quiddity
Is the North Korean goalkeeper only 4’5″ tall? Other keepers are 6′ and up. I don’t see how a short person can have nearly as good a “reach” in order to stop or deflect balls.
handsmile
Pity the members of Portugal’s trade delegation now in Pyongyang, feverishly checking flight schedules as the lights flicker in their hotel suite.
Have to side with cmorenc’s observation on the final score of this match. But, IMO, sportsmanship has never been among Portugal football’s salient characteristics.
Violet
Oh, wow, just checked the score. Poor North Korea. Kind of puts Brazil’s performance in perspective.
Skyborne
@Quiddity: No, he’s really 6’1 — someone vandalized his Wikipedia page.
Randy Paul
@Violet: Not really. Brazil beat them 2-1, but beat Ivory Coast 3-1. Portugal could nto score against Ivory Coast.
Consider the weather as well.
Svensker
@Quiddity:
According to the Wiki page he is 6’2″. After this game, however, he may lose 8″ or so.
Those poor NoKo players. I really hope nothing happens to them when they go home.
handsmile
Not from The Onion:
“According to the Associated Press, North Korea state television has confirmed it will show live coverage of today’s World Cup match against Portugal in what is believed to be a first for a North Korea football team’s match taking place abroad.”
Current headline at Pyongyang’s People’s Daily News:
Senior management positions now available at State Television agency.
Quiddity
@Svensker: The page had been hacked when I read it. He’s taller now, but as you say, maybe not for long.
mac
Maybe in the US. In the rest of the world taking it easy is a great way to start a fight.
I have issues with Baltimore
If you enjoy that twitter feed, then you might enjoy the Achewood story arc that starts with this strip about North Korean Magical Realism.
Quaker in a Basement
@Svensker: Go home?
Better not.