Cold War :U.S. women face North Korea

It comes after a politically charged incident last week when the same North Korean team walked off the pitch before a match against Colombia at a stadium in Scotland because giant screens accidentally displayed the flag of their South Korean foes.

The blunder by Games organisers brought the political sensitivities of the Korean peninsula to the fore ahead of the clash with the Americans, whose former President George W. Bush once branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" nations.

The hostility is very much a live issue in world diplomacy, with Washington intent on frustrating the North's nuclear armaments plans and Pyongyang impervious to external pressure.

"It definitely adds a little bit of extra drama to this match, like in the Cold War when the Americans would play the Russians," said Christina Gustafson, 24, on a train from London to Manchester a few hours ahead of the game.

She and her friend Amanda Balaoing, both from California, sported red and white U.S. shirts and colourful strings of red, blue and silver beads around their necks to show their support.

 

"We didn't even know who was playing when we got the tickets. When we saw it was North Korea, we were like, ha, interesting," said Balaoing, 23.