SEOUL, South Korea, April 4, (Agencies): As World Cup records go, it takes some beating: One appearance, one quarterfinal run and one of the biggest results in history along the way.
But 44 years later, literally nobody knows if North Korea has what it takes to emulate its 1966 feat of an upset win over Italy.
Little is known of the team and its players outside East Asia, partly because the team rarely enters the Asian Cup, sat out qualification for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and most of its players are in action in the country’s domestic league, which few outside the reclusive communist state have ever watched.
What is known, however, is that the national team advanced through a tough qualification group, is difficult to beat and consists of a tight set of players who have been together for years.
North Korea started its long road to South Africa in October 2007 with a 9-2 aggregate win over Mongolia. That gained entry into an Asian third-round group stage with South Korea, Turkmenistan and Jordan. Six games and no goals conceded gave North Korea a place in the final round and a reputation for a miserly backline.
The reward at the draw in Cape Town was a very challenging group containing Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast.
Midfielder An Yong Hak is not surprised that the team is seen as the outsiders of the group.
“It is inevitable because we have qualified for the final for the first time in 44 years and we haven’t showed any good record in international tournaments since then,” said An, who plays in Japan’s J-League.
An will be one of three overseas-based players likely to make the plane to South Africa. He doesn’t see a lack of experience in foreign leagues as a weakness for the North Koreans.
Then a scoreless draw in Riyadh in June clinched the second qualification spot from the group — behind South Korea — and North Korea’s players were given a hero’s welcome when they arrived back in Pyongyang.
It was the best moment in North Korean football since the 1966 World Cup in England and was especially sweet after the disappointing attempt to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, a campaign derailed in part by bad luck and goalkeeping mistakes.
Ri Myung Guk is more reliable than his predecessor and in front of him sits a five-man defense that is well-drilled and well-organized. Despite the packed backline, the team counterattacks with the guile of playmaker Hong Yong Jo as crucial as main striker Jong Tae Se.

Germany and England may well feel at home when they play their World Cup games at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
While most World Cups are played in warm conditions, this year’s tournament is happening in the middle of South Africa’s winter, and the stadium, sitting next to a lake in open land outside of Port Elizabeth, might feel like Hamburg or Newcastle if the wind and rain sweep across from the sea.
Nicknamed the “Sunflower” because of its circular shape and petal-like roof design, the stadium has an impressive ring of floodlights and will hold 45,000 fans for the World Cup and stage eight games, including the third-place playoff.
The stadium was the first of the new World Cup venues to be completed — on June 7, 2009 — and it overlooks the North End Lake and is situated between the lake and the ocean. Although it is a 15-minute drive from the main hotels of Port Elizabeth, it is a short walk from the beaches if the weather — as low as 9 degrees C (48 degrees F) at night — is good enough.

Japan wait on Nakamura injury: Yokohama playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura could miss Japan’s World Cup warm-up against Serbia in Osaka on Wednesday after suffering an ankle injury. The 31-year-old, who is central to Japan’s plans at this year’s World Cup in South Africa, limped out of a J-League game at the weekend after taking a kick to his left foot.
“Right now I can’t put my boots on because of the swelling,” Nakamura told Sunday’s Sankei Sports newspaper. “I’m just hoping it doesn’t swell up too much.
“It was a scary moment. I will do whatever I can to be involved (against Serbia) as there’s not much time left (before the World Cup).”
MRI scans showed no fracture or ligament damage but Japan coach Takeshi Okada said: “It’s a worry. We will consult with the team doctor and then make a decision about the Serbia game.”

AWB says teams should avoid WC: A South African white supremacist group whose leader was killed warned other countries on Sunday to avoid sending their football teams to the World Cup in “a land of murder.”
Andre Visagie, a senior member of the far-right Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging movement, said the slaying of leader Eugene Terreblanche “is a declaration of war” by blacks against whites in South Africa. Visagie said the AWB would respond by telling countries to reconsider participating at the World Cup, which begins June 11.
“We’re going to warn those nations, ‘You are sending your soccer teams to a land of murder,”’ Visagie said. “Don’t do that if you don’t have sufficient protection for them.”

South Africans lose out to Santos: South Africa’s preparations for the World Cup suffered a jolt overnight Sunday when they slid to a 2-1 loss to a team comprising reserve players of Brazilian side Santos.
Katlego Mphela was on target for the Bafana Bafana (The Boys) but Marcelo and Breitner saw Santos run out narrow winners in Sao Paulo.
Carlos Alberto Parreira’s South Africans recently held a three-week training camp in Brazil as they prepare for the first World Cup to be hosted on African soil. Last Wednesday they held Paraguay 1-1 at Asuncion.
They will move on to another training camp in Germany later this month before returing to South Africa in May to complete preparations for the World Cup opener against Mexico in Johannesburg on June 11.
France and Uruguay are the two other teams in South Africa’s group.