North Korea’s football team played like it was “waging a war” during a World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang against South Korea, the South’s manager has said.
The two national teams played out a scoreless draw on Tuesday at the huge Kim Il-sung Stadium, which was empty of spectators. The match took place under a media blackout, and the South Koreans first spoke to journalists about the conditions on their return to Seoul on Thursday.
The team’s general manager, Choi Young-il, said the South Korean football association (KFA) would discuss whether to submit a complaint to Fifa over what he described as North Korea’s failure to properly accommodate the visiting team and decision to block media and spectators.
Choi told reporters at Incheon airport that the North Koreans played like they were “waging a war”, violently swinging their elbows and hands and driving into their opponents knee-first when competing for balls in the air. “I have never seen something like this in soccer before,” he said.
Son Heung-min, South Korea’s captain and Tottenham striker, said: “The opponents were very rough, and there were moments when very abusive language was exchanged. It was hard to concentrate on the match because you were thinking about avoiding injury first … It’s an accomplishment that we returned from a game like that without injury.”
No foreign media were allowed and the game was not broadcast live.
The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, who also attended the match, issued a statement on Tuesday saying he was “disappointed to see there were no fans in the stands”.
He said: “We were surprised by this and by several issues related to its live broadcast and problems with visas and access for foreign journalists.”
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency published only a brief match report, saying the “game of attacks and counterattacks ended in a draw 0-0”.
North Korea did provide a DVD recording of the match to South Korean football officials, but the South Korean TV channel KBS cancelled plans to broadcast the game on tape delay because of the video’s poor quality, according to the broadcaster and the KFA.
“We probably won’t get another video from North Korea,” said Park Jae-sung, a KFA official, adding the video was unfit for South Korea’s high-definition TV services.
The North had been expected to have a clear home advantage in a 50,000-capacity stadium devoid of opposition fans, but South Korean players and football officials were surprised to discover there would be no home support either.
Son said it was regrettable that South Korea, which has a stronger team on paper, could not return with three points, but admitted their opponents’ physical playing style had affected morale.
When they were not playing or training, South Korean players and staff were holed up at the Koryo hotel, which appeared to have no other guests, Choi said. They had no outside contact, having left their mobile phones at the South Korean embassy in Beijing before entering the North. Choi said North Korean officials did not inform the South Korean team the match would be played in an empty stadium.
“We got there an hour and a half early and kept thinking that the gate will open and a crowd of 50,000 would pour in,” Choi said. “But the gate never opened until the end.”
The game was the first competitive meeting between the national men’s teams in the North Korean capital, although the North hosted the South in a friendly in 1990.
