Matthew Hall is a leading Australian soccer writer.

Brazil finally entered this World Cup on an ice-cold winter night in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The venue, rugby ground Ellis Park, is an old-fashioned concrete rectangle close to Jozi's dumpy downtown.

If this stadium can be a World Cup venue, then fear not Geelong - there's nothing stopping you getting on the map should Australia win the hosting right for 2022.

The South Americans - of course - were meant to bring Samba soccer to a tournament that, Germany and Australia excepted, has so far been a little goal-shy.

North Korea, Brazil's supposed lamb-to-slaughter opponent, failed to read the script.

Just as likely, they were never allowed to see a copy.

Very, very, few people knew anything about North Korea before this match.

The word before kick-off was that North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il selected the team and coach Jong Hun Kim merely barked orders to the automon players.

A the next 90 minutes demonstrated, if this is true, Kim Jong Il's name must be be added to the shortlist to fill the Socceroos' soon-to-be vacant coaching position.

Within an ocean of yellow - Brazil and Bafana fans - there were 30 or so North Korean fans - perhaps the richest men in their country if not senior politicians - proudly waved their red, white, and blue scarves and flags.

One North Korean player - I am sorry, I do not know his name - wept during the pre-match rendition of his country's national anthem.

This match was going to be a very different experience, one that would demonstrates just why the World Cup can sometimes be very special.

As well as Tae Se Jong, a North Korean player born in Japan to South Korean parents, the Korean team's line-up featured 32-year-old midfielder In Guk Mun who may be the shortest-ever World Cup player (at least in recent times) measuring up at 167cms and dwarfed by his teammates and opponents.

"Don't panic! Don't panic" Jong Hun Kim hushed at his players during the early minutes of the game.

He need not have worried. North Korea were good and - did you watch, Pim Verbeek? - took the game right to Brazil.

Many people thought North Korea would show up in South Africa as the team most-likely to be whipped. That was proven to be the result of ignorance rather than any real intuition.

North Korea had skill, discipline, and passion.

Of course, Brazil did win.

Early in the second half, defender Maicon reenacted Ned Zelic's famous goal for Australia against Holland that qualified the Olyroos for the 1992 Olympics.

Far right wing, a shot (maybe a cross), to the near post that slipped between the ‘keeper.

Elano made it two not long after and North Korea looked buried.

But these guys didn't know when to stop. They continued to attack and in the dying minutes Yun Nam Ji, who plays for a team you have never heard of, beat two Brazilian defenders and exquisitely slipped the ball past Julio Cesar, who plays for Inter Milan.

It was perhaps fitting that a team representing the world's last remaining hard-line Communist state played the same night ground stewards and security took strike action over a pay dispute.

No security was present to check my bag on the way into Ellis Park and x-ray machines remained switched off. I took my seat with no one seemingly interested in what my bag contained.

The strike was connected to disturbances in Durban last Sunday after Australia's game with Germany. There, stewards protested claiming they had been underpaid.

There, police broke up the protest (in the stadium) with percussive grenades and tear gas.

It was announced on Tuesday that police would take over the stewards' jobs in Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and at Ellis Park.

At stake?

Stewards demanding around $60 for a 12-hour day instead of around $25.