Coach Park believes that U23 North Korea is a mysterious unknown.

North Korea is always a secretive country to the rest of the world, so North Korean football is different from any other country. April 25 is a military team, providing many players for the national team. Unlike other countries, North Korean players gather at the training center all year round, and are released to play at their clubs on the weekends.

Mysterious unknown

North Korean people themselves are also in the dark about information about their football team, not the experts, the media of Korea and other countries in the region. Because newspapers and television hardly provide professional information about sports activities in general, and football in particular.

North Korea has always been a mysterious team. Photo AT

Mr. Park's hometown is only separated by a fence from the base of coach Ju Song-il and his team, but the Korean coach and his close associates such as Lee Young-jin and Kim Han-yoon have been unable to find out any information about their opponents. Even the Korean media, who are supposed to be knowledgeable, can only shake their heads in defeat at the mystery of the North Korean players.

“North Korea has always been a mysterious team. It is very difficult to find information, pictures, and videos of North Korean teams on the Internet, as well as sources that can provide information about the teams in this country,” admitted journalist Hong Jae-min, editor-in-chief of Fourfourtwo Korea.

Until now, Mr. Park only knows that Coach Ju Song-il often plays with a 4-4-2 formation, often using the players' stamina to tire out the opponent before finding a way to score. In the qualifying round, they were the first team to get a ticket to Thailand to participate in the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship, so they cannot be underestimated.

Entering 2020, there were 3 North Korean players who could not participate in the AFC U23 Championship finals due to being over age. They were center back, captain Jong Kum-song and So Jong-hyok, striker Kim Yu-song, the players who contributed greatly to the top performance of Group G in the qualifying round.

The most important players that the Korean press provided to Mr. Park were: goalkeeper Kang Ju-hyok, defender Jong Tong-chol, midfielders Kim Kuk-chol, Ri Kum-hyok and striker duo Pak Kwang-hun, Kim Kuk-jin.

Past achievements

Coach Ju Song-il prefers to use the 4-4-2 tactical formation. AP photo

Regarding past achievements at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China, North Korea U23 only won against Thailand, drew with Palestine and lost to Japan 1-3, being eliminated from the group stage. At the recent Dazu Cup in China, coach Ju Song-il's team drew with Lithuania U23 1-1, defeated host China 1-0, but was defeated by Australia U23 0-4.

At ASIAD 2018, Olympic North Korea was placed in the seed group 1. In group F, all 4 teams got 4 points and Olympic North Korea defeated Saudi Arabia with a score of 3-0 in the last match to win the second place in the group (after Olympic Iran passed the "death group"). They surprisingly drew 1-1 with Olympic Myanmar, lost 0-3 to Olympic Iran but won very easily against Olympic Saudi Arabia.

At the club level, Quang Hai and the Hanoi players were undefeated after two matches in the 2019 AFC Cup inter-zone final and watched their opponents qualify for the final match due to the away goal rule. The Vietnamese team also failed to beat North Korea in their most recent confrontation in a friendly match in December 2018.

With no other choice, Mr. Park had to study the opponents when they faced U23 Jordan and U23 UAE. Because according to the schedule, U23 Vietnam will play U23 North Korea in the last match on January 16, after the matches with U23 UAE (January 10) and U23 Jordan (January 13). When U23 North Korea's game plan was exposed to Jordan and UAE, Coach Park could completely "read" them.