Ri Myong-Guk

Firmly established as North Korea's first-choice goalkeeper, Ri marshalled a mean defence during the qualification campaign. The 23-year-old played only the first half of the preliminary encounter against Mongolia, keeping a clean sheet during his 45 minutes on the field before being replaced by teenage understudy Ju Kwang-Min. Ju started the second leg of the first-round cruise, with North Korea progressing 9-2 on aggregate before Ri returned to the starting XI for the following 14 group games. In the first group phase, Ri and his watertight defence boasted an astonishing record of no goals conceded from their home and away meetings with South Korea, Jordan and Turkmenistan. The Pyongyang City shot-stopper further demonstrated his agility and safe hands during the final group phase with North Korea conceding only five goals from their eight fixtures with South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and United Arab Emirates.