N. Korea’s Victory Is Very Revealing
North Korea was one of the biggest mysteries of the Women’s World Cup tournament.
The team rarely plays outside Asia and little is known about its players. After the North Koreans arrived in the United States for pre-tournament training they kept to themselves, talking little to the media and offering virtually no biographical or tactical information about themselves.
Even their coach didn’t speak to reporters after his team’s 3-1 victory over Denmark Thursday before 20,129 at Civic Stadium, leaving that chore to technical official Kim Hak Yong.
“This is our first time to be in the Women’s World Cup, so we concentrate more on our matches and training than other activities,” he said.
The North Koreans are a secret no longer. Their mastery of Denmark in Group A play marked them as a team to watch and moved them into contention for a quarterfinal berth. Denmark’s hopes of advancing are slim and depend on the results and margin of victory in the final first-round matches.
Denmark (0-2) has scored only one goal and given up six. To move on, Denmark must defeat Nigeria on Sunday by a big margin and hope the U.S. routs North Korea (1-1), which has scored four goals and given up three.
“It’s up to us and up to the United States,” Denmark Coach Joren Hvidemose said. “We must hope our friends in the United States will do what they can and we will do what we can.”
Until the second half Denmark wasn’t able to do much offensively against North Korea, which played most of the game with a sweeper behind four defenders. Denmark’s woes were worsened by the absence of forward Karina Christensen, who broke her nose in practice Wednesday and flew home to Copenhagen for surgery, and the loss in the ninth minute of forward Marlene Kristensen, who broke her leg and is scheduled to undergo surgery today.
“They are very difficult to play against because they play very good defense,” Hvidemose said. “They took chances with counterattacks.”
North Korea opened the scoring in the 15th minute, after Jin Pyol Hui eluded a defender, drew goalkeeper Dorte Larsen out and sent home a sharply angled shot from the left side. To celebrate, she did a belly-flop along the rain-slicked grass, where her teammates joined her to form a human pinwheel.
Jo Song Ok made it 2-0 in the 39th minute with a marvelous individual effort. She hopped over one defender, faked a second and booted a left-footed shot inside the left post.
As Denmark pressed forward in the second half, North Korea capitalized for its third goal, by Kim Kum Sil, in the 72nd minute. Janni Johansen scored Denmark’s goal in the 74th minute and the Danes continued to press, but goalkeeper Kye Yong Sun wasn’t beaten again. She was credited with 10 saves, to only two for Larsen.
“Our players did a good job technically and individual players have done their job nicely,” Kim Hak Yong said.
They will have to do as well or better against the United States Sunday at Foxboro, Mass. “The U.S. is stronger than the Danish team. All of their players have more experience and they are very good in different positions,” Kim Hak Yong said. “We must pay more attention than in the other matches.”
