NORTH KOREA 3-5 PORTUGAL

Having not even been expected to qualify for the 1966 World Cup in England, North Korea went to the finals as the least fancied of the sixteen teams and many people thought that they would be there only to make up the numbers. However, having drawn with Chile and pulled off an amazing victory over Italy, they arrived in the quarter-finals to take on highly fancied Portugal and their star striker Eusebio, one of the players of the tournament.

The quarter-final match at Goodison Park could not really have turned out to be much more dramatic. Portugal were strong favourites, but the North Koreans made a fantastic start when their captain Park Seung-Zin shot them into the lead after only 55 seconds. Portugal were stunned, and their situation got worse a little over twenty minutes later when goalkeeper José Pereira's mistake let in Lee Dong-Woon to tap in the second goal.

The scoreline took an even more unbelievable turn just two minutes later, when Yang Seung-Kook shot home to give North Korea a 3-0 lead. The inexperienced North Koreans seemed as shocked by the situation as their opponents, and did not really seem to know how to cope. Instead of taking control of the game and holding on the their lead, they kept up a system of all out attack and were punished just moments later. Portugal's great hope was Eusebio, and his 27th minute shot gave them a lifeline and a potential way back.

North Korea desperately wanted to hold their 3-1 lead until the interval, but just three minutes before half-time they conceded a penalty. Eusebio stepped up and fired home his second goal of the match, and despite their terrible start Portugal were still in touch, just 3-2 behind. Momentum seemed to have swung irreversibly away from North Korea, and Eusebio assumed complete control of the match early in the second half. Twelve minutes after the restart he completed his hat-trick with a powerful close range shot, and Portugal were level. The Korean defenders could not cope with the pace of Eusebio, and just minutes after the equaliser he was brought crashing down in the penalty area. Portugal had their second penalty of the match, and again Eusebio made no mistake with his fourth goal.

North Korea could find no way back into a match they had seemed to be running away with, and with eleven minutes remaining Portugal sealed their amazing comeback with a fifth goal. For once, it was not Eusebio who found the net, but it was his corner that was headed in by José Augusto to give Portugal a 5-3 lead. There would be no more scoring, and Portugal had taken their expected place in the semi-final against hosts England. In the end, the match belonged to Eusebio who went on to finish as leading scorer in the tournament, but no-one would ever forget the amazing contribution of North Korea in the 1966 World Cup.