Well there were definitely tears in this one. Although before we had even gotten started. The No. 9 for North Korea - Tae Se Jong was clearly very emotional during the national anthems bit. He was in tears as his country's anthem played out, and it really hit home how much it means to the players. It was quite heartwarming to see the passion and pride so overtly, especially coming from a player whose country has been involved in serious political turmoil for many, many years. I heard that if North Korea failed to win this game, then they would not show the televised match in the capital of North Korea. I also heard that they had used Chinese actors to pose as North Korean fans in the stadium. None of this is confirmed of course, and I sincerely hope that it is just rumour, and not the truth, because North Korea did themselves and their country really proud tonight, after pulling of a surprising but determined performance against the team ranked No.1.
The Brazilians, and probably everyone else, were not expecting the type of performance they got from the North Koreans. The samba boys found it extremely difficult to break down a stoic and plucky North Korean defence and went into half time with the scores still 0-0. It looked like it was going to be another one of those games, that we have seen all too often, already in the tournament. The kind where the tempo's slow, there's not too many chances, both teams are cautious, it stays 0-0 for ages, and then one team wins it by a goal or two. But, to be fair, I thought that Brazil and North Korea started off rather well. There was pace and Brazil in particular, were keen to get the ball moving.
North Korea, were sort of similar to Japan in a sense, they were very well organised, not out of position too often, resolute at the back and hoping to break on the counter. Their style of play suited the attacking Brazil, who saw most of the ball and the chances in the first half. On loan player Robinho, dazzled in the early stages, with some pretty stepovers, whilst Bastos and Elano had some shots from range. That's another thing I have noticed in this tournament, so many players are shooting from far out. I'm not sure whether it's because of this new ball and the things people have been saying about it, but there do certainly seem to be shots coming in from far out...the only thing is that they haven't really been on target, otherwise we would be talking about some pretty spectacular goals! I was a bit disappointed by Kaka. He was substituted later on in the second half, and he didn't really do much during the time he was on. He had no real impact on the game which was a shame.
Brazil realised that North Korea were able to squeeze the ball out really well, when it got nearer to their goal, which is why they tried the long ball and long distance shot approach. To their credit, North Korea did not just sit back and defend, which is what made this game entertaining to watch, unlike some of the ones we have already seen. They broke several times on the counter with Jong able to rattle Cezar and the Brazilian defence. It looked like an upset, or at least another draw, was on the cards as the teams headed into the half time break. North Korea, were quite clearly the happier of the two.
It was not until the 55th minute that Inter's Maicon was able to break this strong North Korean defence. It was actually a pretty weird kind of goal. Maicon was able to get down the right hand side and from what seemed like an improbable angle, he was able to get the ball away and it somehow landed into the back of the net. There has been debate about this goal though - did he intend to shoot, or was it actually a cross? I think he meant to cross it. But he's Brazilian, so I can't be sure. It was such a tight angle though, I mean he was practically horizontal to the goal and watching from the replay, the ball was played straight on, but it just swerved, before it landed in the North Korean goal. It was a blow for the North Koreans, who had done so well at keeping the Brazilians at bay, until then. The pass from Elano to Maicon was great, by the way.
Whilst North Korea pressed forward to get the equaliser, they were left open at the back. It was a superb pass from Robinho which sailed over the defenders, like a knife through butter, that provided the assist for Brazil's second goal. Elano latched on to the ball, controlled it beautifully and took the shot, which looked to have won them the game. It was a great finish from the former Man City player. But if Brazil thought it was all over, they were made to think again, with a lovely attacking move by North Korea. In fact, you might have even thought, it was Brazil in disguise, the way they passed the ball. Yun-Nam Ji was able to control it and coolly slot it pass Julio Cezar to give them a consolation. They really deserved that goal, and one could say they were quite unlucky to not get a point out of the game. For their passion, determination and willingness to work hard and try and get something out of the game, they certainly deserved a point. But Brazil were dominant in possession, made their chances count when they needed to and saw off the game from a side that gave them a real run for their money, and so they probably deserved the victory in the end.
The good thing was, we had an entertaining game of football. For the first time in the competition, the losing side managed to score. And there were no Mexican waves during the game (in the previous games, which have lacked in entertainment value, there has been plenty of Mexican waving going on). An entertaining game of attacking football in what has been a largely defensive and cagey tournament so far? It can only mean one thing: the Samba boys have danced their way into town!
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