Asian football, unpredictable in the World Cup

Despite the fact that Asian football still needs a lot of time to reach and stabilize its position at the highest level of world football, it can be said that Asians have always been one of those unpredictable teams in the World Cup.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was a celebration of the brilliance of Asian teams, from the brilliance of Saudi Arabia in the first game against Argentina and the defeat of Yaran Messi to the historic rise of Korea, Japan and Australia to the round of 16. Perhaps few people thought that Argentina would lose to Saudi Arabia 2-1, Japan would pass the Spanish barrier, South Korea would knock Ronaldo and his friends to the ground and finish Uruguay’s work in the World Cup.

If we leave Saudi Arabia aside, the Asian stars of the World Cup proved in this period how much effort and persistence can change the numbers. سایت شرط بندی فوتبال Hardworking teams known for never giving up and fighting to the end.

But the history of Asian teams is not limited to recent years, and during the different eras of the World Cup, the teams of the old continent were able to create interesting surprises.

The 1966 World Cup and the surprise of North Korea

The host of this cup was England, in a certain era when even a victory against the European teams of the North Korean leader was happy to the point of death, this team advanced to the round of 16. Perhaps this World Cup was purely political for North Korea, as if the leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, wanted to show how much more powerful the communists are than the western countries. England and North Korea were still at war and England wanted to not give visas to North Korea, but with FIFA’s threats, the team went to the World Cup on the condition that the North Korean national anthem not be played in the stadium.

North Korea’s group was strange, Soviet, Chile and Italy, teams that were very proud at that time. The situation of the North Korean national team was not good at all and maybe the players of this team were not at all like the winners. Perhaps the strangest team in the history of the World Cup, I don’t know if it is correct to call it this or not, but at that time this team was so much noticed by the spectators that everyone cheered them, even sometimes the cheering of the North Korean team was heard from the audience. The voices of the fans of the other teams were getting louder. A short team whose goalkeeper could hardly reach the crossbar of the goal.

Players, photographers, translators, cooks, maybe even a few spies accompanied the Korean team, people who had never left that country before. The Koreans did not play football, as if they had brought the war to the green rectangle and did their own thing regardless of sports rules. Korea lost to the Soviet Union, drew with Chile and beat Italy in disbelief. Excited by the victory, the Korean players danced, rejoiced and consumed alcohol for the entire two days they had to spend training to play against Portugal, and in the end they lost 5-3 to Portugal. This is one of the most interesting and best results for Asian teams in the history of the World Cup.

South Korea’s fourth place in the 2002 World Cup

The 17th edition of the World Cup was held in 2002 and was jointly hosted by Korea and Japan. This cup is almost the most surprising appearance of South Korea in the history of the World Cup. This team managed to get the fourth place in the world in this period. Among the 32 participating teams in this period, Brazil’s national football team was able to win the championship against Germany. The teams of Turkey and South Korea were third and fourth after the German team.

This result is the best result of Asian teams in the history of the World Cup. Korea was in the same group with America, Portugal and Poland during that tournament. Korea managed to get 2 wins and 1 draw in the group stage. In the round of 16, South Korea faced Italy and defeated this team 2-1. In the quarter-finals, they faced Spain and won 5-3 on penalty kicks, and lost to Germany 1-0 in the semi-finals. At the end of this period of the World Cup, the best team of the cup was the nickname that FIFA considered for South Korea.

 

Making Saudi history in the 1994 World Cup

Saudi Arabia was able to create a surprise in this World Cup hosted by the United States. This team, which was in the same group as Belgium, Morocco and the Netherlands, was able to win 2-1 against Morocco and 1-0 against Belgium in the group stage, and 2 against the Netherlands. Defeat by 1 and finally go to the next stage. This team faced Sweden in the next stage and lost 3-1. Maybe this was the end of Saudi Arabia’s work in this cup, but this team was one of the amazing teams of the 1994 World Cup and managed to attract attention.

 

Blue-clad samurais in the 2002 World Cup

The Japanese national team is one of those teams that was introduced to world football very late, despite all this, the Japanese proved themselves to the world very soon and defined their place in football. In the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted by Japan and Korea, Japan was in Group H with Belgium, Russia and Tunisia, and by winning 2 wins and 1 draw in a total of 3 games, Japan went to the next stage together with Belgium, this was the first time. that Japan advanced from the group stage of the World Cup, and this was a history-making event for the samurai. The Japanese lost to Turkey 1-0 in the elimination stage and could not advance to the next stage.

2006 World Cup and the best result for Australia

The Australian national team was in the group with Brazil, Japan and Croatia during this period. In the group stage, Australia managed to beat Japan 3-1 and draw 2-2 against Croatia. This team, which only suffered a 2-0 defeat against Brazil, went to the next stage to make a surprise for this country’s team. In the next stage, the kangaroos faced Italy and lost 1-0, so that immediately after the joy of promotion, everything is over for this team.