Kuala Lumpur: With the next round of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup almost upon us, join the-afc.com as we take a look at Asia’s previous World Cup participation.
Asia at the FIFA World Cup
In total, 12 different nations have represented Asia at the FIFA World Cup since the tournament began back in 1930 and since then the continent’s World Cup performances has seen a steady improvement when Asia’s representatives have gone face-to-face with the game’s finest exponents.
The involvement of the Dutch East Indies in the 1938 FIFA World Cup was auspicious mainly for its status as the continent’s first-ever appearance in the competition, with the South East Asians eliminated in the first round by Hungary.
It took almost another two decades before the continent was represented again, with Korea Republic progressing to the finals in Switzerland in 1954.
But Asian football truly arrived on the scene eight years later in England when DPR Korea, led by the goal-scoring of Pak Do-ik, captured the imagination with a run to the quarter-finals that saw the legendary Eusebio and his Portuguese team-mates given major fright.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Asia’s presence at the FIFA World Cup was guaranteed, with the allocation of places increasing from one to two for 1986 as Korea Republic returned for the first time since 1958, to be joined by Iraq.
2002 and a seismic shift
While the Iraqis are still chasing a follow-up appearance at the tournament, the Koreans laid down a marker that has seen the country become a consistent qualifier since, including the co-hosting of the tournament in 2002 with Japan.
For all of Korea’s consistency, though, it was debutants Saudi Arabia who, in 1994, became the first team since the North Koreans to qualify for the knockout stages, with Saeed Owairan’s wonder-goal against Belgium playing a major role in taking the Middle Eastern nation into the last 16.
Eight years later marked the most auspicious occurrence to date for the Asian game when Korea Republic and Japan co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, with both reaching the knockout phase for the first time.
Japan were eliminated in the second round by a Turkey side that would go on to reach the semi-finals, where they were joined by a Korea Republic team that was swept along on a wave of patriotic enthusiasm that ensured the best-ever performance by an Asian team to date at the FIFA World Cup.
Those performances were followed in 2010 by another stellar showing by the Japanese and Koreans in South Africa as both once again reached the knockout phase – this time for the first time on foreign soil – only to be eliminated by Paraguay and Uruguay respectively.
Despite the quartet of Japan, Korea Republic, Australia and Iran failing to hit the heights in Brazil during the World Cup’s 2014 edition, hope springs eternal that come 2018 and the global extravaganza in Russia, Asian teams will – once again – shine brightly.
Photos: AFP
Source: the-afc.com