North Korea gained a well-earned draw against 2004 European champion Greece 2-2 in a friendly played in Austria on Tuesday night.
The 2004 European champion Greece, who will play Argentina, Nigeria and South Korea in Group B, jumped ahead after just three minutes though Kostantinos Katsouranis.
But Jong, a Japan-born Korean nicknamed “Asia’s Wayne Rooney”, knotted the game on a fine strike just outside the box off the lower half of the crossbar at the 24-minute mark in Altach, Austria.
Angelos Charisteas gave the Greeks the lead again just three minutes into the second half. Kawaski Frontale’s Jong, however, evened the game for a second time with a strong move right of goal after collecting a long high ball.
The North Koreans, back in the World Cup for the first time since 1966 and drawn in Group G with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal, showed they can attack as well with Mun In Guk getting close in the 68th minute and Cha Jong Hyok forcing a strong save by Alexandros Tzorvas with his free kick four minutes later.
The game though would end deadlocked at 2-2.
While both Greece and North Korea can be happy about getting some offence from their defensive-minded sides, a pair of African nations struggled against teams not appearing at South Africa 2010.
In their first game together under new coach Lars Lagerback, Nigeria could only muster a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia in Wattens, Austria.
The Swedish coach Lagerback, who took the helm of the Super Eagles in February, still has plenty of cuts to make from his team, which takes on Argentina, Greece and South Korea in Group B in South Africa.
Nigeria, however, appeared pedestrian in their friendly against the Saudis, who dominated the game in stretches and missed three solid chances to grab the win in the final 19 minutes.
Cameroon, who play Japan, Denmark and Netherlands in Group E at South Africa 2010, also failed to convince in a 0-0 draw against Georgia in Linz, Austria.
Another World Cup side in action on Tuesday was Paraguay, who were downed 2-1 against Ireland in Dublin.
Kevin Doyle scored in the seventh minute and Liam Lawrence struck after 39 minutes to double the Irish lead.
Lucas Barrios pulled a goal back at the 58-minute mark for Paraguay, drawn into Group F with Italy, Slovakia and New Zealand.
In a match of non-World Cup teams, Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine knocked off Lithuania 4-0 thanks to two goals each by Oleksandr Aliyev and Andriy Shevchenko.
In addition, Albania beat Montenegro 1-0, and Armenia beat Uzbekistan 3-1.
