While a cloak of the unknown has surrounded North Korea, it has proved to be anything but a pushover. Portugal has been warned of the threat of the Asian underdogs from one of its greatest players.
An intriguing rematch of one of the greatest matches in World Cup history takes place Monday in Cape Town, with Portugal looking to earn its first three points against the feisty North Koreans.
Brazil and Ivory Coast are also in Group G, making this the "Group of Death." North Korea - the lowest-ranked team in the field at No. 105 - figured to be an easy three points for the other teams.
That wasn't the case Tuesday as the Chollima held the Brazilians scoreless at the half in a 2-1 loss. The North Koreans used a defensive formation to frustrate the five-time World Cup champions.
That effort caught the attention of Portuguese great Eusebio, who scored four goals in a 5-3 win over North Korea in 1966. North Korea upset Italy to advance to the quarterfinals, and took a 3-0 lead after 23 minutes before Portugal stormed back in what is considered the greatest rally in World Cup history.
The North Koreans were largely unknown then, and that remains the case heading into this matchup against a Portuguese team featuring some of the best players in the world.
"The Portuguese players must be 100 percent committed to overcome North Korea, which has already proven against Brazil that it's not a weak team,'' Eusebio said. "We have to be very determined, very quick moving the ball around, solid in defense and, of course, the players need to find the inspiration to show on the pitch the talent they possess.''
Portugal showed very little of that determination in its opener, a dreary scoreless draw with the Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
Captain Cristiano Ronaldo has now failed to score for his country in 16 months. Over his last two seasons at Manchester United and Real Madrid, he has scored more than 70 goals.
"The goals will come. They'll come naturally,'' Ronaldo said. "It's like a great player once told me: goals are like ketchup ... you keep on forcing it, then it comes all at once."
It's unlikely goals will come easily against the defensive-minded North Koreans. Portugal also is trying to avoid a troubling trend of being stymied by inferior opponents, having been held to scoreless draws against Estonia and the Cape Verde Islands within the last year.
"It's always difficult to play against a team that stacks its defense and waits for its opponent to make a mistake," coach Carlos Queiroz said. "We'll have to take more risks. We have one point so far and we need to win the second game."
North Korea striker Jong Tae Se thinks his team can continue to surprise.
"I believe we will advance to the next round," he said.
