Like Honduras, New Zealand have qualified for South Africa 2010 and have only ever been to one other World Cup, that being the 1982 version in which we have already spoken about the efforts of the Hondurans. New Zealand did even worse than Los Catrachos though as they finished bottom of their group with three defeats from three, one of them even coming against Scotland of all the embarrassments to suffer. And it was the Scots that the All Whites lost to first time out in the tournament as well as they went down to a hefty 5-2 defeat in Malaga, Scotland already 3-0 up in the match after just 32 minutes. Next up came the USSR, again at Estadio La Rosaleda in Malaga, New Zealand this time losing without even finding the scoresheet as Yuri Gavrilov, Oleg Blokhin and Sergei Baltacha got the Soviet Union's goals in a 3-0 victory. Things then getting even worse for the All Whites in their final game of the tournament as they had another defensive nightmare, this time losing 4-0 against a Brazil side who would themselves crash out in the second round. Zico with a brace, Falcao and Serginho all registering for the Brazilians in the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Seville. That stadium now called the Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera after current owner Manuel Ruiz de Lopera built a new ground over the old one in 2000. Yet another side making their second World Cup appearance next summer will be certainly one of the more interesting ones as it is North Korea, which is officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or if you're FIFA then they call them Korea DPR. Whatever name you want to give them we have to go back to 1966 for the last time the North Koreans made it to the World Cup, a tournament that was played in and won by England apparently. They won a lot of friends in 1966 too, as, with all their group games played at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough they managed to qualify for the quarter-finals. Things started badly though with a 3-0 defeat against the USSR before a late equaliser from Pak Seung Zin got them a 1-1 draw against Chile. Their final match causing the real surprise as they remarkably defeated, and therefore knocked out the mighty Italy, 1-0 thanks to a 42nd minute strike from Pak Doo Ik. The same day England were beating Argentina at Wembley, the North Koreans took part in an amazing quarter-final tie against Portugal at Goodison Park. Pak Seung Zin, Li Dong Woon and Yang Sung Kook astonishingly putting them 3-0 up on 22 minutes before Eusebio stole the show for the Seleccao das Quinas. The Mozambican, tearing defences apart at the time for Benfica, scoring four times in 32 minutes from the 27th minute mark onwards, with Jose Augusto then netting ten minutes from time to make the final scoreline 5-3 to the Portuguese. In qualifying for the World Cup this time, North Korea were paired in an "axis of evil" final Asian zone group of themselves, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - not exactly the ideal countries for away fans of any of the other teams. The DPR having got to round four by defeating Mongolia 9-2 on aggregate in the first round before getting a bye in round two. The third round then saw them paired up for the first time with South Korea. The first game between the two sides was meant to be a home match for the DPR in Pyongyang but their refusal to play the South Korean national anthem or fly the South Korean flag meant, after three failed negotiation attempts, that the matter was referred to FIFA by South Korea. The game eventually being played and finishing 0-0 in the Hongkou Stadium in Shanghai, China. The return game in Seoul also ended 0-0 and the two countries finished unbeaten in the top two group places ahead of Jordan and Turkmenistan. So with memories of that third round already in mind the Asian Football Confederation must have been ready to chuck the balls back in the pot as the two sides were paired together once more. Again the DPR home game had to be played in Shanghai and it finished 1-1 this time. In Seoul though the deadlock was broken as South beat North 1-0, South already qualified for the World Cup before North took on Saudi Arabia in Riyadh in their final match, DPR only needing to hold the Saudis to a draw to get through. And it was that familiar 0-0 scoreline again for the North Koreans that takes them to South Africa, although if we are going to have an entertaining summer sat in front of the television then let's hope they start to get a few more goals. |