North Korea at the World Cup

So little is known about this North Korean team. Here's what I found out in a few short minutes in the depths of the internet:

1. They qualified with relative ease in the Asian Football Confederation, which has a bizarre multi-multi-stage process. Here are their results:

First qualifying stage: Mongolia 2-9 North Korea.

In the first group stage they went 3-3-0 (W-D-L), with 4 goals for and 0 goals against. They drew 0-0 twice against South Korea, beat Jordan twice and beat and drew Turkmenistan.

In the second group stage they qualified above Saudi Arabia (on goal differential) and Iran, with a 3-3-2 record and 7 goals for and 5 against.

2. Their squad is relatively young: only thee players are over 30.

3. All except three play their football in North Korea. Two play in Japan and one in Russia.

4. Their star striker, Jong Tae-Se, has been called the North Korean Wayne Rooney. Yowzah. Eight of his international goals came in two matches, against Mongolia and Macau, so his strike return of 15 in 22 isn't quite as impressive as at first glance. He has scored against Japan, South Korea, Iran, and in NK's last three matches, against Taiwan, Greece and Nigeria. Watch this clip of one of his goals.

5. According to ESPNSoccernet, they play extremely defensively. Great.