Mick Hartley

After the unpleasantness surrounding the swift exit of the North Korean team at the World Cup in South Africa last year, the coach of the women's team made sure he had his excuses ready – especially when their first opponents were the hated Americans:

North Korea's coach blamed his side's 2-0 loss to the United States on his players getting struck by lightning in the build up to the Women's World Cup.

Kwang Min Kim claimed that some of them were hospitalised with electrocution after a training match on 8 June….

"When we stayed in Pyongyang during training our players were hit by lightning, and more than five of them were hospitalised," said coach Kim, without naming the affected players specifically.

"Some stayed in hospital and then came to Germany later than the rest of us. The goalkeeper and the four defenders were most affected, and some midfielders as well. The physicians said the players were not capable of participating in the tournament.

"But World Cup football is the most important and significant event for a footballer, so they don't want to think about anything but football.

"The fact that they played could be called abnormal, the result of very strong will."

Only the most cynical could fail to be moved.