1966 World Cup

1966 will not just be remembered as the year of England's greatest triumph. On Teesside it will also be remembered as the year North Korea re-wrote the history books by beating Italy in the one of the World Cup's biggest ever shocks.

Bobby Moore lifts the World Cup for England

 Ayresome Park was chosen ahead of St. James' Park due to a dispute regarding the lease of the ground, between Newcastle City Council and Newcastle United.
Boro took advantage of the situation to improve parts of the ground, adding seats to the East End and the North and South Terraces. Boro could now boast almost 13,000 seats, which made Ayresome Park one of the best grounds in the country.
Ayresome Park played host to three games in group four which was made up of  USSR, North Korea, Chile and Italy. The other games were played at Roker Park.

At Ayresome Park, in the opening game of the group, USSR beat North Korea 3-0 in front of 22,568 fans. Two goals in a minute, with half an hour gone, were enough to kill off the plucky Koreans. USSR added a third in the dying minutes. Up the road Italy beat Chile 2-0 at Roker Park.

The next game at Ayresome Park saw Chile held 1-1 by the Korean's. Only 15,877 watched as Chile failed to finish off the Korean's, who equalised with just two minutes remaining, after Chile had taken a first half lead. USSR shocked the Italians by beating them 1-0 at Roker Park.

At this stage in the group it meant that Italy only had to draw against the Asian minnows to qualify for quarter-finals. But they hadn't reckoned on playing the Korean's with only ten men for the best part of an hour.
No substitutes were allowed in the tournament so the Italian's had to manage with just ten men, when Bulgarelli was stretchered off after just 30 minutes, following a knee injury.
Pak Doo-ik puts North Korea ahead against Italy

The 18,727 fans inside Ayresome Park, including more than 3,000 Italian's, sensed that there could be an upset and their belief was confirmed when Pak Doo-ik put the Korean's ahead just before half-time.
Italy had 45 minutes to save themselves but they failed to make their possession count against a resolute Korean defence. The Boro crowd had taken the Korean's to their hearts and gave them a tremendous send-off when the final whistle blew.
The Korean's had to wait for the result of the final match in the group between Chile and USSR. Chile could pip the Korean's if they won, but even a weakened USSR side ran-out 2-1 winners at Roker Park.

Disappointingly the attendances at Ayresome Park were the lowest of all the World Cup venues, but then Boro had just been relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history.

The North Korean's celebrate their historic victory against Italy

Group 4 Results at Ayresome Park
Date: 12th July 1966 USSR 3 North Korea 0 Att: 22,568

Teams
USSR: Kavasashvili, Ponomarev, Shesterniev, Kuhurtsilava, Ostrovski, Sabo, Sichinava, Chislenko, Malafeev, Banishevski, Khusainov
Scorers: Malafeev (2), Banishevski
North Korea: Chan-myong, Li-sup, Yung-kyoo, Zoong-sun, Bong-chil, Seung-zin, Seung-hwi, Bong-jin, Doo-ik, Ryong-woon, Seung-il
Date: 15th July 1966 North Korea 1 Chile 1 Att: 15,887

Teams
North Korea: Chan-myong, Li-sup, Yung-kyoo, Zoong-sun, Yoon-kyung, Seung-zin, Seung-hwi, Bong-jin, Doo-ik, Dong-woon, Seung-il
Scorer: Seung-zin
Chile: Olivares, Valentini, Cruz, Figueroa, Villanueva, Prieto, Marcos, Fouilloux, Landa, Araya, Sanchez
Scorer: Marcos (pen)
Date: 19th July 1966 North Korea 1 Italy 0 Att: 18,727

Teams
North Korea: Chan-myhung,  Zoong-sun, Yung-kyoo, Yung-won, Yoon-kyung, Seung-hwi, Bong-jin, Doo-ik, Seung-zin, Bong-hwan, Sung-kook
Scorer: Doo-ik
Itlay: Albertosi, Landini, Faccheti, Guarneri, Janich, Fogli, Perani, Bulgarelli, Mazzola, Rivera, Barison

Final Group 4 Table
P W D L F A Pts
USSR 3 3 0 0 6 1 6
North Korea 3 1 1 1 2 4 3
Italy 3 1 0 2 2 2 2
Chile 3 0 1 2 2 5 1
USSR played Hungary in the quarter-finals at Roker park and ran out 2-1 winners, but their world cup campaign ended at Goodison Park in the semi-finals, when they were beaten 2-1 by West Germany.
North Korea went on to play Portugal in the quarter-finals and almost pulled off another upset. They shocked the Portuguese by taking a 3-0 lead at Goodison Park, only to see Eusebio score four, as Portugal fought back to win 5-3. 

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