North Korea target the World
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
HONG KONG, July 8(AFP): It may not please the purists, but North Korea's football team is firmly on course for the 2010 World Cup after reaching the last round of qualifying without losing or even conceding a goal.
If they do make it, it will be the isolated communist state's first World Cup in 44 years and despite a lowly world ranking of 94, below such minnows as Gambia and Suriname.
The endeavours also come at a time when the country, ruled with an iron fist by Kim Jong-Il, is believed to be suffering acute food shortages, reviving memories of a famine in the 1990s which left up to one million people dead.
Better known for its nuclear weapons programme and dubious human rights record, North Korea, who play all in white, have hardly endeared themselves either with their defensive brand of football.
If they do make it, it will be the isolated communist state's first World Cup in 44 years and despite a lowly world ranking of 94, below such minnows as Gambia and Suriname.
The endeavours also come at a time when the country, ruled with an iron fist by Kim Jong-Il, is believed to be suffering acute food shortages, reviving memories of a famine in the 1990s which left up to one million people dead.
Better known for its nuclear weapons programme and dubious human rights record, North Korea, who play all in white, have hardly endeared themselves either with their defensive brand of football.