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“Normally when there are 30 shots in the game, it is the United States with about 25 of ’em. Not today!”
It wasn’t simply the ESPN commentator who was shocked.
Heather O’Reilly had scored the sport’s last objective, dragging world quantity ones and two-time champions United States to a 2-2 draw of their opening match on the 2007 Women’s World Cup.
O’Reilly wasn’t shocked by the scoreline although. Or how evenly-fought the sport was. She knew it could be robust.
Instead, as the ultimate whistle blew, it was the angle of the US’s opponents, who noticed an opportunity missed, reasonably than a degree gained, that struck her.
“I remember North Korea seeming disappointed,” says O’Reilly.
“Their body language seemed to say ‘oh my gosh, we were so close to taking down the giant’.”
North Korea is the world’s most remoted nation, a state primarily based across the infallibility of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and a deep suspicion of the surface world.
Yet, regardless of dwelling requirements being nicely behind most different nations, North Korea has been one of many strongest feminine soccer nations on the planet.
When they took on the United States in 2007, they have been ranked fifth on this planet and amid a run of three Asian titles within the house of a decade.
Their document at youth stage is even higher. In 2016, they gained the U20 Women’s World Cup, defeating Spain, the United States and France within the knockout rounds. That identical 12 months, their under-17 staff additionally lifted their age-grade World Cup.
“The game in 2007 was challenging, really super hard,” remembers O’Reilly of her assembly with North Korea’s senior aspect. “It was hard to get the ball off them, they were buzzing around, very quick.”
There was one other problem although, one which was distinctive to North Korea.
“It was just such a cloud of uncertainty,” says O’Reilly. “The film we had on them was very limited, even by the standard of the times.
“Every time we performed North Korea, it was all the time a thriller.”
The thriller now’s, after a doping controversy and a four-year absence from worldwide soccer, can North Korea’s girls be a drive as soon as once more?
