Asian football was the great winner in the first stage of the World Cup played at ‘home’, as Qatar was the host country. For the first time in the history of the tournament, three of their teams qualified for the round of 16: Japan, South Korea and Australia, which, although it belongs to Oceania, participates in the qualifying phase of the Asian Football Confederation . .
Of the three, Japan reached the round of 16 as the first in the group after defeating Germany and Spain, in both cases 2-1. Meanwhile, South Korea finished second in their group after defeating Portugal on the final day (2-1), while Australia did the same after surprising Denmark in the decisive match (1-0).
Asia surpassed the record in 2002 and 2010
So far Asia has fielded two teams in the round of 16 on two occasions: in the edition also organized at the ‘home’ of South Korea and Japan in 2002 and in South Africa 2010.
In 2002, the hosts reached the semifinals after controversial defeats to Italy in the round of 16 (2-1 after extra time) and Spain in the quarterfinals (on penalties) before losing to Germany. For their part, Japan did not get past the round of 16 when they were eliminated by Turkey (2-1).
Meanwhile, in 2010 both South Korea and Japan lost in the round of 16 against Uruguay (2-1) and Paraguay (on penalties), respectively.
Africa, as in 2014
For its part, Africa equaled its record by advancing to group stage two of its teams. If in Brazil 2014 Nigeria and Algeria achieved this for the first time, in Qatar 2022 they were imitated by Senegal and Morocco, rivals of England and Spain in the round of 16.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
