When the Chollima took flight

Il dentista. For years the myth, started somewhere between a misty English summer afternoon and a tomato-strewn return to Genoa, persisted.

The erstwhile Pyongyang print factory labourer Pak Doo-ik was most certainly not a dentist but the surgery he performed to extract Italy from the 1966 FIFA World Cup™ was executed with clinical proficiency.

Korea DPR’s extraordinary run to the quarter-finals of the eighth World Cup had many unfathomable layers, none more so than the way the team was adopted by curious locals at their base camp in the northern English town of Middlesbrough.

As defender Rim Jung-son remarked years later, he had no idea the source of an affection that runs so deep that the then seven surviving members of the 1966 squad were invited back to the city in 2002.

“It still remains a riddle to me that the people of Middlesbrough supported us the whole way through [the World Cup]…I still don’t know the reason why.”

Equally as perplexed were locals on that 2002 reunion tour when the visiting Koreans enquired as to the health of the late Jack Boothby, the city’s mayor in the mid-1960s who had taken an especially keen interest in the World Cup debutants.

Whatever the reasons for these peculiar links between North Yorkshire and North Korea, it was Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park – long since having made way for a housing estate – that witnessed arguably the greatest upset in World Cup history as the Asian underdogs dumped two-time champions Italy out of the tournament en route to the quarter-finals.

Korea’s remarkable run to the last eight started some nine months earlier when what was originally intended to be a 21-nation tussle across Africa, Asia and Oceania for a lone ticket was reduced to just a pair of combatants.

Ideological and logistical factors saw a slew of withdrawals that left Australia and Korea DPR to contest a two-legged play-off in neutral Cambodia. A stunning 9-2 aggregate result in front of a pair of 60,000-strong crowds at Phnom Penh’s recently opened Olympic Stadium meant that Korea, often referred to as the Chollima after the mythical winged horse of the same name, was headed to the World Cup for the first time.

Barely a decade on from the end of the Korean War, it was an extraordinary feat and one that caused some ripples of uncertainty in a host nation that wouldn’t formally recognise the DPRK state until 1991.

From the moment that the 74-strong travelling party, including several chefs and a four-person documentary crew, touched down in England though all those concerns were swept aside as the love affair between their host location and the tournament’s rank outsiders began.

Having been hit 3-0 by the Soviet Union in their opening encounter and then trailing Chile 1-0 with just two minutes to play in their second match, the Koreans were on the verge of the early exit that many had them tipped for.

That was until Pak Sung-jin smashed home a volley from the top of the box in the 88th minute to secure a 1-1 draw and set up a decisive final group clash against the might of Italy.

While only the most unlikeliest of wins would be enough for Korea to progress, an Italian side that would go on to make the final of the subsequent edition knew that a draw would send them through to the last eight.

That was an outcome that forward Gianni Rivera, reflecting years later, felt should never have been in doubt.

“Strangely we had the sensation of it being a grey day and that probably influenced the situation negatively rather than calming it.

“We were convinced though that as we only needed a draw we wouldn’t have any problem against a side which we believed to be, and which was, inferior.”

On paper that may have been the case but Myong Rye-hyun’s side had won plenty of plaudits for their dynamic, attack-minded displays in their first two outings. They also caught a huge break when Giacomo Bulgarelli clattered into Pak Sung-jin and was forced off in the 34th minute.

In an era with no substitutes that left Italy to complete the match with ten men. Three minutes shy of the interval Pak struck a blow that would stun the Middlesbrough crowd, the watching global audience and the match commentator, who remarked “What a sensation! Italy a goal down to North Korea. Whoever would have believed it.”

The goal was a fine piece of skill from a player who would later go on to coach his national side as he met a powerful header from deep, adjusted his body and slotted first time past Enrico Albertosi.

Reflecting on the goal in the documentary film The Game of Their Lives, Pak also revealed that was the moment he could sense history was about to be made.

“I moved [when the ball was in flight] so I could use my right foot which is always more accurate and I scored. If we analyse why Italy lost the game, firstly they lost the mental battle and secondly after they conceded they played individually, not as a team, so we saw a triumph of teamwork over technical superiority.”

Despite repeatedly testing their Asian opponents in the second half, there was no way past an inspired Ri Chan-myong, with the Korean keeper determined, as he would later explain, to preserve the clean sheet and his nation’s miraculous passage to the quarter-finals, becoming the first Asian nation to do so.

“Behind me was the goal which was small but behind the goal was our nation. If I conceded a goal the reputation of North Korea would fall and therefore I guarded the goal with my life.”

Forced to move from their adopted home to Liverpool for the last eight showdown with Portugal, the Koreans were housed, at the last minute in Loyola Hall, a Catholic retreat that the Italians had reserved for an anticipated knockout stage fixture.

Put up in the unfamiliar surrounds of single, rather than communal, rooms Pak Doo-ik explained that they found sleep hard to come by under the alien gaze of religious icons.

Perhaps that may be a factor why the Koreans almost topped the Italian upset as they raced into a 3-0 lead against Portugal before an Eusebio-inspired comeback saw their remarkable journey end in a 5-3 defeat at Goodison Park.

While Italy would go on to claim a further two titles, for Korea it would be the final time they would feature at a World Cup until South Africa 2010.

At that reunion a quarter of a century ago there were only seven remaining members from the 1966 squad, now the number is even fewer.

Then, as now, though the lyrics of the song the team composed before heading to England bear witness to a remarkable summer when a little-known Asian debutant won hearts and went toe-to-toe with football royalty.

We can beat anyone Even the strongest team We will show others who we are That’s right, fight and win