Story by Gerald Goh/Red Sports

Temasek Polytechnic, Thursday, July 2, 2009 - North Korea required a priceless Jo Sol Song goal in 2nd half stoppage-time against Laos to send them through to the semi-finals of the Asian Youth Games football tournament. Their 4-2 win advanced them at the expense of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi’s superior goal-difference of six meant that North Korea had to win by a sufficiently huge margin and hope for the Republic of Korea to do the same to the Saudis in their concurrent Group A qualifier.

Laos were chomping at the bit to have a go at their opponents, with Keomoukda Sisanon dictating the play in midfield and Lembo Saysana blazing a 6th minute free-kick just over the bar. Jo Sol Song had an early sight of goal with a good header, but his subsequent foray into the box in the 13th minute saw the North Korean forward take one too many touches and fluff a good opportunity.

Laos' Souksavanh Somsanith then produced a breathtaking piece of trickery to leave his marker on his backside near the byline. He then forged a square pass to Lembo who sprayed the ball out for Keomoukda to hammer a cracker at goal, which was well-saved by goalkeeper Kwon Kum Choi.

North Korea took the lead in the 16th minute when Ro Kwang Yong's free kick cannoned off the crossbar with custodian Soukthavy Soundala, restored to the starting line-up, well beaten. The ball fell nicely for Jo, who directed the rebound into an empty net to send the North Koreans on their way.

Laos replied in swift fashion four minutes later, as Lembo muscled his way past a throng of Korean defenders and found the ball ricocheting right into his path. The Laotian striker calmly proceeded to fire a snapshot past Kwon to level the scores.

With the game opening up, Soukthavy proved to be equal to Ro's dead-ball from 20 yards out, the Laos ´keeper smothering the ball at the second attempt. Laos' Sanasouk Pavanna then headed a corner just over the bar, before Keomoukda bent an exquisite free-kick into goal in the 31st minute to give Laos their first ever lead in the Group A qualifiers.

Keomoukda's expression of joy was unbridled, as he skidded toward the Laotian bench on his knees before being mobbed by his teammates.

As North Korean passes continued to go astray, Souksavanh had to be denied a clear shot at the Korean goal by a great last-ditch tackle. Korea's Ri Jong Hyok ran towards the corner flag in the 37th minute and swung a tempting cross for captain Ryo Yu Song, who made a shocking miss as he skied his header from 2 metres out.

The second period saw a rejuvenated North Korea come out with all guns blazing. Stealing the ball in the 44th minute, Ro's effort took a lucky deflection off the right post, with Jo's follow-up then denied by the left post as Laos rode their luck. Their fortune ran out barely four minutes later as Jo beat his marker to provide a level cross for Ri to roll the ball into an empty net, with the Laotian players caught out of position.

Laos' Chackkith Mahavonng was booked in the 52nd minute for a body check on Ha Chol Song, before Sanasouk had to bail out his ´keeper by booting a loose ball into touch as Soukthavy failed to make any contact with a rash challenge.

Soukthavy redeemed himself in the 57th minute as he bravely grabbed the ball off the toes of Jo as he bore down on goal, despite the shot-stopper's recent hand injury. Ri's subsequent collision with Soukthavy left the Laotian ´keeper motionless, with Ri badgering the fallen Soukthavy to get up and a bevy of Laos players surrounding Ri before referee Srirat Sura intervened.

With substitute ´keeper Southakone Thammada on for Soukthavy, North Korea took the lead after 71 minutes. Ri breezed past his marker just outside the area before knocking it past Southakone to make it 3-2.

As news streamed through the crowd of South Korea's 5-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia, the Korean fans grew more vociferous. Korea had a flurry of efforts denied by the stout Laotian back-four, as Laos began to run out of steam. Ro's stoppage-time shot was acrobatically saved by Southakone, but he could do nothing about Jo's tap into the unguarded goal as the Korean fans hysterically exploded with the final whistle.

North Korean coach Paek Kil Song bemoaned his team's fixture list that had left his team physically and mentally drained. "We expected to win this match, but Laos scored two and made it hard for us. The previous 2 matches were very tough, and we have one less day to recover, so we'll have to see the players' condition and try and maintain our level (of performance)."

Paek also criticised his team's performance. "The key balls were to be played to him (Jo Jol Song), but it didn't work out because the other players didn't get out of the way."

Laos team manager Alex Tuan Tran revealed that Nilaphai Naenphandy's captaincy for this match at the expense of Keomoukda was simply the customary captain being restored to his old position. "We wanted to boost Keomoukda's performance in the first two matches, so we made him captain, pushed him up front."

"I'm very happy with the way the players performed, we encouraged them to play their own game. It didn't matter whether we won or lost, the players' fight and unity was very good," Alex beamed.

Describing the desire to play within the squad, Alex described how Southin Sayalath, injured in the first match against Saudi Arabia with a fractured collarbone, ´begged and cried' with the coach to let him play, who relented on condition that the player protect himself and not challenge for 50-50 balls.

"Southin's inclusion was a big boost to team morale." said Alex. He also revealed how the coach had only put goalkeeper Soukthavy in the starting line-up after the ´keeper could prove his swollen hand did not interfere with his ability to grasp the ball. Alex concluded by saying, "Overall, it's a very memorable tournament for the boys."