The Draw

[Guest]

The Draw

So there you have it; don't say I didn't warn you. I think I need a lie down.

[G-Man]

The Draw

Wrong thread. of course, but we can overlook that (thanks to your entertaining commentary). But you have Germany losing a penalty shoot-out, and Holland win one? Next you'll have us believe that the earth rotates around the sun.

[N est à?]

The Draw

The world cup in my head has England and Mexico meeting in the quarter finals, with both being eliminated from the tournament after they fail to conclude an interminable penalty shootout in time for the semi finals.

[Furtho]

The Draw

Incandenza wrote:

A bit of a different way of thinking of things:

Interestingly, however, the NoKos are far from the most insular team at this World Cup, with at least four players based in other countries. (Including a player for Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale, which sounds like an extremely entertaining, possibly fatal sex maneuver.) That’s four more than England, which couldn’t export a player if the Queen’s life depended upon it, and three more than Italy, which is the Serie A all-star squad plus the Reviled Traitor, Joe Rossi.

Interview with Russian-based NK captain Hong Jong Yo, here.

[Kid A]

The Draw

"That’s four more than England, which couldn’t export a player if the Queen’s life depended upon it"

What's that fella's name? Dave Becks?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The Draw

Why would English players want to be "exported" at the moment? There are probably only five or six other clubs in the world paying wages as high as the top dozen in the Premier League at present, which is why the Premier League will be represented by something like 120 players, all told, at the World Cup Finals next summer.

(Numbers hurriedly recovered from back of fag packet estimations)

[Incandenza]

The Draw

He was simply making a point that for all of the talk of North Korea being insular and shut off for the rest of the world, they have more players on their national playing outside of the country than England or Italy do.

[West End Zuma]

The Draw

If I was North Korean I'd want to be exported too.

[Furtho]

The Draw

The number of NK players who actually have been exported is not that great.

Judging from the ever-trustworthy Wikipedia page on the subject, of roughly thirty or so current internationals, six play for teams outside of NK - but three of them were born to Korean families in Japan and will never have lived in NK. In fact, they've probably only ever been there to play international home games and in practical terms are a lot more Japanese than they are Korean.

The three players who were, (i) born in NK, (ii) played for NK clubs and now, (iii) play for clubs in other countries (i.e. what you might call "proper exports") are the above-mentioned Hong Yong Jo of FC Rostov, Kim Yong Jun of C-Leaguers Chengdu Blades and, rather more curiously, Kim Kuk Jin of Swiss side FC Wil.

[Kid A]

The Draw

Incandenza wrote:

He was simply making a point that for all of the talk of North Korea being insular and shut off for the rest of the world, they have more players on their national playing outside of the country than England or Italy do.

That may well be but how many foreigners are playing in N Korea? Or indeed how many foreigners are in N Korea at all? The average English squad member will have club teammates from all over the world, which may mitigate his insularity and reluctance to move abroad.

Speaking of which (well kind of) the papers here are linking Landon Donovan with a move to Everton. Is he angling for a move? Or maybe Tim Howard is encouraging him and Moyes to make it happen.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The Draw

If Everton end up as the home team of a significant number of American players ahead of the World Cup Finals, it would be ironic, given Liverpool's current ownership.

Doubly ironic if Everton finish ahead of Liverpool this year (and at this stage of the year I'm not ruling anything out).

[radmonkey]

The Draw

Alessandro Nesta Mahdi wrote:

The world cup in my head has England and Mexico meeting in the quarter finals, with both being eliminated from the tournament after they fail to conclude an interminable penalty shootout in time for the semi finals.

That sounds about right.