Then you aren't respecting the opposition. While Malta are a very weak team by England standards, their players play in a better standard of division than the likes of San Marino and Andorra. Scotland ran riot against them, fair enough, but Malta probably thought they could get a result and consequently opened up. They knew it'd be difficult against England and just stuck Effiong up front and choked the midfield. San Marino, Gibraltar, Andorra, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein are the four European teams that have the fewest professional footballers, they're the teams that traditionally get a good thrashing. After that there's another group with the likes of the Faroes, Malta, Armenia, Moldova and Azerbaijan (not talking about the seedings, btw) who are much better, have more professionals and the players play in a better standard of league.
Hull. Although I'm considering moving to San Marino and getting citizenship there, should be able to at least get a game against Germany.
I'm not sure, but I heard somewhere that when North Korea got knocked out the World Cup, they showed fake matches and told Kim Jong Il that they'd won the competition. When they came back and they hadn't, he stripped them of their position in the worker's party and punished them severely.
Where do you go to hear these things? Or aren't you sure you heard it? They could have told him it was an alternative narrative and not to believe everything in the MSM. If they had a MSM of course.
They're too good and have mostly professionals playing for them. San Marino are almost entirely amateur.
Nope, definitely heard it. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/30/north-korea-footballers-public-mauling England's failed footballers should count themselves lucky that their ignominiousWorld Cup exit was met with little more than a public mauling by the media. Their counterparts from North Korea, who lost all three of their group games, have been subjected to a six-hour excoriation for "betraying" the communist nation's ideological struggle, according to reports. There are even fears for the safety of the team coach, Kim Jung-hun, who was accused of betraying the son and heir of the regime's "dear leader," Kim Jong-il. Early this month the players were summoned to an auditorium at the working people's culture palace in Pyongyang, forced onstage and subjected to a six-hour barrage of criticism for their poor performances in South Africa, according to the US-based Radio Free Asia. Only Jung Tae-se and An Yong-hak were spared a dressing down as they flew directly to Japan, their country of birth and where they play club football, according to an unnamed Chinese businessman the station cites as its source. The "grand debate" was reportedly witnessed by 400 athletes and sports students, and the country's sports minister. Ri Dong-kyu, a sports commentator for the North's state-run Korean Central TV, led the reprimands, pointing out the shortcomings of each player, South Korean media said. In true Stalinist style, the players were then "invited" to mount verbal attacks on their coach, Jung-hun. The coach was reportedly accused of betraying the leader's son, Kim Jong-un, who is expected to take over from his ailing father as leader of the world's only communist dynasty. Radio Free Asia quoted the source as saying he had heard that Kim Jung-hun had been sent to work on a building site and there were fears for his safety. North Korea watchers said the regime had been hoping to attribute the team's success to Kim Jong-un as it attempts to build support among military and workers' party elites for a transfer of power. After the Red Mosquitoes, who reached the World Cup quarterfinals in England in 1966, narrowly lost their opening match to Brazil, the regime decided to televise the second group game against Portugal in what is believed to be the country's first live sports broadcast. But the few North Koreans with access to a TV had to watch the team suffer a 7-0 thrashing, a defeat some reports attributed to orders by Kim Jong-il to play a more attacking style. The reported episode highlights the potential perils of representing a dictatorship at professional sport. But according to South Korean media, the players got off lightly. A South Korean intelligence source told the Chosun Ilbo that in the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who let the nation down were sent to prison camps. "Considering the high hopes North Koreans had for the World Cup, the regime could have done worse things to the team than just reprimand them for their ideological shortcomings," the source told the newspaper.
Can't see the bit about them faking games and claiming they had won the competition. Was that an alternative narrative you heard somewhere else?
After some research, it turns out the video was a fake and not real. However the punishment for the team was.
So you just believed dome load of claptrap without checking it first? What video was fake? "After some research..." What research was needed?
Because I looked it up. Like I said, I was told the story about the DPKR team, I hadn't seen the vid in question. Apparently it was a mock video made by a blogger, I was just told the myth.
