North Korea
North Korea manager was Pak Doo-ik, who had played for his country at the 1966 World Cup in England, and he was famous for having scored the goal which knocked Italy out of the tournament thanks to North Korea’s 1-0 win in the final group stage match. Doo-ik had managed the national team since 1976.
1966 had indeed been North Korea’s solitary presence at a World Cup, and most recently, they had not featured neither at the football tournament during the 1986 Asian Games, nor at the 1988 Asian Cup, for which they had failed to qualify.
Lead up to the qualification
During 1988, North Korea had only played a total of five international matches, from which the final four, contested between May 26 and June 2, were all in qualification for the Asian Cup, which was held in December. Their results in their failed attempt to qualify (all matches played on neutral ground in Kathmandu, Nepal):
26/5: Syria 1-2
27/5: Nepal 1-0
31/5: Hong Kong 1-0
2/6: Iran 0-0
North Korea finished third behind Syria and Iran.
In January 1989, the North Koreans had played a solitary friendly ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualication:
27/1-89: India 1-2 North Korea
Goals: Oh Yong-nam, Kim Yun-chol
World Cup Qualification
First phase
Match 1
21/5-89: Indonesia 0-0 North Korea
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-chol, Oh Yong-nam, Gum-chol – Gwang-min, Yong-bin (Yong-jin 87), Jong-man, Chang-kyo (Pung-il 57), Jong-soo – Hyong-il, Hyok-chom
Match 2
27/5-89: Hong Kong 1-2 North Korea
Goals: Gwang-min 3, Chang-kyo 4
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-chol, Oh Yong-nam, Gum-chol – Gwang-min, Yong-bin, Jong-man, Chang-kyo, Jong-soo – Hyok-chom (Yun-chol 61), Yong-jin (Gyong-chol 44)
Match 3
4/6-89: Japan 2-1 North Korea
Goal: Jong-soo 72
Line-up (3-5-2): Chi-won – Gwang-chol, Oh Yong-nam (c), Gum-chol – Gwang-min, Yong-bin, Jong-man, Chang-kyo, Jong-soo – Pung-il (Ji-hyok 81), Hyong-il
Match 4
25/6-89: North Korea 2-0 Japan
Goals: Pung-il 36, Hyok-chom 84
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-chol, Oh Yong-nam, Gum-chol – Gwang-min, Yong-bin, Jong-man (Hyok-chom 67), Gyong-sik, Jong-soo – Pung-il (Hyok-an 57), Hyong-il
Match 5
2/7-89: North Korea 4-1 Hong Kong
Goals: Hyok-chom 18, Hyong-il 29, Pung-il 80, Gyong-sik 84
Line-up: Gyong-chol – Chon-man, Jong-man, Gum-chol – Gwang-min, Yong-bin, Gyong-sik (Jong-song 85), Jong-soo – Pung-il, Hyong-il, Hyok-chom (Sin-on 85)
Match 6
9/9-89: North Korea 2-1 Indonesia
Goals: Gyong-sik 40, Hyong-il 64
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-chol, Oh Yong-nam, Gum-chol – Gwang-min, Jong-man, Gyong-sik, Jong-soo – Pung-il, Hyong-il (Chang-kyo 79), Hyok-chom
North Korea rounded their group off with three successive home matches, and knew that if they won them all, they’d progress through to the final stage of the qualification. Once they had won the return fixture against Japan, their strongest opponents, they had regained control, and from there on it was more or less a formality that they won the group.
Table:
1. North Korea 6 4 1 1 11-5 9
2. Japan 6 2 3 1 7-3 7
3. Indonesia 6 1 3 2 5-10 5
4. Hong Kong 6 0 3 3 5-10
Second phase (in Singapore)
Match 1
12/10-89: United Arab Emirates 0-0 North Korea
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-min, Gwang-chol, Yong-man, Jong-soo, Chon-man, Yong-bin, Gyong-sik (Kim Yong-nam 67), Hyok-chom, Pung-il, Hyong-il (Yong-jin 80)
Match 2
16/10-89: South Korea 1-0 North Korea
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-min, Gwang-chol, Yong-man, Jong-soo, Chon-man, Yong-bin, Gyong-sik, Yong-jin (Hyok-chom 59), Pung-il (Kim Yong-nam 77), Hyong-il
Match 3
20/10-89: North Korea 2-0 Qatar
Goals: Pung-il 23, Gyong-sik 32
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-min, Gwang-chol, Yong-man, Jong-soo, Chon-man, Yong-bin, Gyong-sik, Hyok-chom (Gil-song 88), Pung-il, Hyong-il (Yong-jin 69)
Match 4
24/10-89: China 1-0 North Korea
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-min, Yong-chol, Yong-man, Jong-soo, Chon-man, Yong-bin, Gyong-sik, Hyok-chom (Kim Yong-nam 81), Pung-il, Hyong-il
Match 5
28/10-89: Saudi Arabia 2-0 North Korea
Line-up: Chi-won – Gwang-min, Gwang-chol, Yong-man, Jong-soo, Chon-man, Yong-bin (Gil-song 71), Gyong-sik, Hyok-chom (Kim Yong-nam 21), Pung-il, Hyong-il
Final table:
1. South Korea 5 3 2 0 5-1 8
2. United Arab Emirates 5 1 4 0 4-3 6
3. Qatar 5 1 3 1 4-5 5
4. China 5 2 0 3 5-6 4
5. Saudi Arabia 5 1 2 2 4-5 4
6. North Korea 5 1 1 3 2-4 3
Conclusion
North Korea, with three home ties to lean on towards the end of their first group stage, did precisely what was necessary, as they won all three, and progressed through to the final group stage. Defeating Japan was the major achievement. They’d lost in Tokyo, and the 2-1 win for Japan was in fact our solitary viewing of North Korea throughout their entire qualification. Japan away, even if they were hardly a powerhouse back in 1989, was one of the trickiest tasks North Korea encountered in the qualification for Italia ’90. Manager Pak Doo-ik, one of the heroes from the 1966 World Cup, had lined them up in 3-5-2 in Japan. The North Korean skipper, the central among the three centre-backs, Oh Yong-nam, would not appear in the final group stage.
Arriving in Singapore, the North Koreans might have been a bit of an unknown quantity, as they drew 0-0 with United Arab Emirates in their opening fixture. Perhaps was this result even a bit of a disappointment to them, with UAE hardly among the favourites beforehand. Next up were their southern neighbours, and in the all-Korea battle, South beat North by a solitary goal from the flamboyant Kim Jong-soo.
In their third fixture, North Korea secured an impressive 2-0 win against Qatar, who suffered their very first defeat since the start of the qualification. First half goals by forward Pung-il, who had scored twice in the first group stage, and midfielder Gyong-sik made sure of their win. At this point, North Korea were third in the standings, and were left with a reasonable chance of progressing through to Italia ’90. However, they subsequently went down by the only goal of the game to China, who overtook the North Koreans in the table ahead of the final round of matches.
Despite having only accumulated three points from four matches, North Korea were still in with a chance to progress through to Italia ’90 ahead of their last fixture. They would obviously need to defeat Saudi Arabia, who had yet to win, but the pre-competition favourites put on possibly their best display, and defeated the North Koreans by two goals to nil. As it turned out, with results elsewhere, even a win wouldn’t have sufficed for North Korea, who ended up bottom in what was a very tight qualifying group.