Group G: Brazil 2 : People's Republic of Korea 1

At this point I could recycle a joke about how the North Koreans played well because they would be sent to labor camps otherwise etc etc. It's not realistic but really it's just not that funny. I had completely different feelings watching the match between Brazil and North Korea. When the North Korean national anthem started playing the North Korean forward broke down crying and though I may not know why, be it a custom for him, be it the honor of representing his nation, be it the opportunity to play there in front of millions of people on the biggest stage for his trade, but what I did understand was that I really didn't understand anything. I couldn't possibly understand how it must feel growing up in a state where one is taught from day out and day in that the rest of the world is out to destroy you. And if we're being honest for a moment that's entirely true. And now imagine that one day you got to represent this country which you grew up loving (because you grew up there you can't help it you have no outside perspective) and you get to play against all those other bigger nations in your eyes just sharpening their teeth to finally consume you.

Whatever one may feel about the cruel and bizarre regime that North Korea has maintained for so long, this is a country of people with real emotions and fears and happiness and not just a place of evil soldiers and horn-rimmed caricatures riding around on atomic warheads. And if all it takes for one to realize is that is the fact that eleven sympathetic young men went out there and played a game against the mightiest soccer nation on earth then so be it. I was surprised how cordial the opposing players to each other were, always shaking hands and helping each other up. They may have been specially instructed by their FA but I like to think it was just common decency, a decency that many Western players lack with their dives and their complaining and threats whenever the referee can't hear.

Every soccer player in the World Cup grew up wishing that one day he could play in that tournament. The honor to be one of just eleven out of millions and millions that gets to put on the jersey is immense, so is the pressure. The pressure can suffocate young minds. Freddy Adu's career came to a halt before it began (so he is still young and I hope all the best for him) Sebastian Deisler was one of the greatest talents that Germany ever brought forward but the pressure and a long fight with depression finally brought him to the point where he packed his cleats away forever.

In the end Brazilian brilliance prevailed. Maicon scored what was arguably the greatest and most improbable goal of this world Cup so far. It was completely intentional, he used his right foot, a cross would have been made with his left foot.



But, North Korea never gave up and ultimately they scored and that alone for a team that no one knew from a country that nobody knows anything about except cartoonish horror pictures that is remarkable.

If you're interested about North Korea more in depth I recommend you watch these two documentaries. They are the only uncensored documentaries from the inside of today's North Korea. One is about the Korean national soccer team that beat Italy 1:0 at the 1966 World Cup and went up 3:0 against Eusebio's Portugal before ultimately losing. The other is the portrait of two girls, living in Pyongyang, that are preparing for the mass games that North Korea are so famous for.