Asian and African Teams Have Best Ever World Cup Group Stage Performance
Hwang Hee-chan’s late goal for South Korea against Portugal means that for the first time ever, three sides from the Asian Football Confederation have reached the round of 16 at the World Cup.
South Korea’s win over Portugal means it finished second in Group H and will join Australia and Japan in the next round.
That win over Portugal also means that when it comes to points per game, the AFC had its best World Cup since the group stages were expanded to 32 teams.
Six Asian sides competed at Qatar 2022, the most ever, and apart from the hosts Qatar, all of the sides won at least one match.
The six sides won seven matches between them and drew one, to give an average of 3.67 points per team. That’s better than in the group stages of the 2002 and 2010 tournaments when Asian sides achieved an average of 3.5 points per team.
It is the confederation’s best performance of the 32-team group stage era. The only time that Asian sides have managed a better points-per-team average was in 1994, when Saudi Arabia and South Korea were the continent’s only representatives. North Korea also managed what would today be classed as four points back in 1966.
Asian sides at this World Cup also produced a series of upsets, with Saudi Arabia beating Argentina in a game that really got the World Cup up-and-running. Japan beat Spain and Germany, to survive the so-called “Group of Death”, despite a surprise loss to Costa Rica. South Korea’s win over Portugal came despite the Taegeuk Warriors having their head coach suspended and their best defender sidelined with injury. These victories will provide hope that at least one of the three teams in the knockout rounds can go even further in the competition.
Two African sides, Morocco and Senegal, also made it to the round of 16, equaling the continent’s best ever group stage performance in 2014 when Algeria and Nigeria reached the knockout rounds.
-Forbes