Forty four years ago, North Korea shocked the world by beating the mighty Italians by a single goal at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough. Doo-Ik-Pak wrote his name into global football history that night. This week, two more North Korean players made their own small contribution to the world’s favourite game.

Images of Jong-Tae-Se crying as his national anthem were beamed around the globe. Whatever the truth behind the rumour and report about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the pride that Jong clearly felt in wearing his national shirt and representing his country on the biggest stage of his life put the multi-millionaires of Europe to shame. When Ji-Yun-Nam hammered home one of the goals of the tournament so far against the ‘God’s’ from Brazil, the fact that they were still 2-1 down and unlikely to grab a point was immaterial. The players of North Korea had given their all and had performed better against Brazil – the five-time World Cup Champions - than a lot of teams have before and will in future.

 

Pulling on any football shirt for a team usually means something even if it is another 90 minutes of toil on a cold February morning in Paisley. However, when that shirt is your national shirt and you go out to represent your country in any international match, let alone the World Cup itself, the honour that is the earning of a cap whether it is for England, Germany, Tunisia or the Faroe Islands is the same. So why has it taken the minnows of the world game to show this?

The World Cup is now a monster similar to the Olympics and Oprah Winfrey. The sponsorship, television rights and politics have overtaken the football itself. The stars of the Champions League, the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga or Italy’s Serie A, many of whom now come from far and wide, have often put club career ahead of country. For many, representing their country appears to be no longer an honour that many would pay for. Instead, it is a right, a chore, even an insignificant choice. Is it any wonder that there is frequently a failure to perform at national level at the same level that is seen domestically?

It matters not that Jong-Tae-Se represents a country shunned by most of the world. What matters is that he cares about it. Pride and passion shown by an unknown player from an unfancied nation. There a few very well-known names that could learn a thing or two.