One way or another today’s AFC Cup final will prove to be a historic occasion for Asian football; two debutants from two nations who have yet to experience continental success contesting the confederation’s second-tier crown in Kuala Lumpur.
As we profiled last week, Al Ahed’s unrivaled underdog story would’ve lit up the pre-game chatter in any other clash around the world, yet opposing a club side from North Korea, they were unlikely to hog all the fascination.
Having made a hell of a lot of noise (not for the right reasons) off it, North Korean football will be keen on creating some positive signals on-the-pitch in Malaysia, as they seek to stabilise and legitimise their place amongst the Asian and global footballing fraternity through their shining light of domestic football.
In April 25 (also known simply and beautifully as 4.25 SC) North Korea has a beacon of hope to stake success on.
A club forged around the national army some 70 years ago, renamed as the formation date of an anti-Japanese military unit, the record domestic champions embellish all outside perceptions of North Korea.
Their appearance in the AFC Cup final comes at a crucial juncture for the country’s public relations strategy given the damning indictments placed upon the FA for the recent Korean derby debacle and their ludicrously optimistic hopes of landing future FIFA hosting privileges.
Yet their progress in the competition hasn’t occurred by chance, having progressed further through the tournament year-on-year over the past three seasons.
Losing out to Indian side Bengaluru in the Inter Zone Semi-Finals in 2017, 4.25 went one step further last year, to lose on aggregate to another eventual AFC Cup finalist in Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr.
2019 has seen them breakthrough to the tournament’s final stage proper, edging out the promising youngsters of Vietnamese champions Hanoi FC. Their recent pedigree proves 4.25 have put in the hard yards to bathe in a moment they’ve created.
While the AFC Champions League has been recently dominated by the East, the AFC Cup conversely has been a West Asian playground, with 13 of the 15 winners hailing from the Gulf.
North Korea, and the often soulless vacuum provided by the Kim Il-Sung Stadium has often been the stumbling block for many of the challenging pack, now they have their own chance to make history for the East side of Asia.
In many ways, their style is the antithesis of what North Korea represents on the international stage. Far from the normal ultra-defensive setup, infamously deploying 11 men behind the ball, 4.25 have utilised their domination domestically into continental play; attack focused football, that is quick and direct, threatening regularly from wide advances.
In fact this well could’ve been how North Korea represented itself in the UAE at the start of the year’s Asian Cup, but for a reversion to type after failing to extend the contract of Norwegian coach Jorn Andersen in the months previous.
Very few coaches illustrate such bravery when it comes to North Korean football, but given the talent at their disposal, demonstrated at youth level, in senior Asian Cup qualification and domestically, it seems a sensible route forward if they desire success.
In that regard 4.25 coach O Yun Son, who has led the Pyongyang club for the last two years, should be widely credited. Having only lost two domestic games since he was appointed, and none this league season, blitzing the opposition away to a record 22nd domestic title, O has not only continued on the winning formula of old but brought the best out of a potential golden generation.
That term doesn’t come easily for North Korea, given the feats of achievement in 1966, or even their returning World Cup qualification in 2006. Yet, after winning the AFC U16s in 2010 and 2014, followed by their run to the final of the U19s in 2014, there was a suggestion they could trump the latter at the very least. What has come to pass has often been straitjacketed by those off the pitch however.
Examples of that promise continue to breed through 4.25. The prolific Kim Yu-Song highlights this; a physical, mobile scoring factory who has netted 24 AFC Cup goals over the past three seasons, currently poised to nip in as the golden boot winner this year.
Kim has gone from strength-to-strength for club and country, cruelly falling foul of injury in the run up to the Asian Cup in January.
But his ability to link up while possessing an imposing aerial threat sizes him up well to current North Korean leading man Pak Kwang-Ryong, who continues to carve out a solid career in Europe.
Supplementing the immense confidence of Kim, 4.25 are well stocked in firepower, including last year’s AFC Cup golden boot winner An Il-Bom, Kim’s attacking pivot Rim Chol-Min and impressive wide man Son Phyong-Il.
With a solid base that has recorded six clean sheets from ten matches, marshaled by new national tram keeper An Tae-Song, the team can hardly be described as a one trick pony either.
One aspect, however, which may prove to derail spirits will be their lack of home advantage. The AFC’s decision to move hosting privileges (not once, but twice) away from Pyongyang has hit the team understandably hard.
The move to Kuala Lumpur in any other scenario, would favour the side that remains in their own region, however with a lack of a typical away football following, the playing field is considerably leveled.
This should make things that much more interesting for a neutral. A partisan crowd, be it in Pyongyang or Beirut, is one to be demanded by the senses, but from a pure footballing standpoint, both clubs now have a blank canvas to show how far their respective football developments have come.
For 4.25, there will be a distinct aspect of local and personal pride on offer, even if the general message coming out of the nation’s capital suggests a more nationalistic tone.
That said, the standard they bear ahead of a showpiece final is that of a team beckoning its nation forward into a new dawn. A new dawn, after last week’s news of AFC Champions League expansion, that offers a tantilising space at the top table of Asian football, if they’re ever able to legitimise their off-field misdemeanours.
A title come Monday evening will go some way to justify North Korea’s footballing progress, but more so than that it would provide the golden moment for a truly great Asian club side’s long history.
Photos: AFC Cup Facebook
