Asian teams turned giant slayers at World Cup 2022

1 year ago

When the World Cup takes place, the teams from Europe and South America are always the most appreciated teams for a championship. As for the Asian teams, they are always seen as pawnbrokers. Their participation often falls short of expectations. The playing field of the biggest football tournament on the planet is considered to be too much for teams from Asia.

The best achievement with an Asian team is Korea's 2002 semi-final. But there is a lot of controversy surrounding this achievement. In the last World Cup in Russia, the Japanese team was the only team to pass the group stage.

Therefore, in the 2022 World Cup, Asia always has ambition in the tournament. And their fighting spirit in the last series has extinguished all the previous disparages. Right now, the whole world must be admiring the convincing performances of the teams in this region. Asian representatives such as Japan, Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, are all showing why they deserve to be on this playground.

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Saudi Arabia

 

 

 

Opening and representing the impressive performances of Asian teams in this World Cup is the Saudi Arabia team. Originally, many people said that this team came to the tournament just to pave the way and play for fun. Some people even thought that they did not understand why Saudi Arabia was present at the World Cup after seeing them play in Russia.

With the opening match against Argentina, many fans suspected that they would lose big. This is because when looking at the impressive achievements with the pre-World Cup momentum run by coach Lionel Scaloni and his students. 36 consecutive unbeaten matches, along with a high performance of the players in attack, many people have thought of a beautiful prospect for Lionel Messi and his teammates in the opening match.

 

However, a real earthquake happened when the team nicknamed the Blue Falcon came back to defeat one of the championship contenders in this year's World Cup with a score of 2-1. This is a victory that not only confirms the spirit of the team but also the spirit of the Asian teams. They played extremely hard and bravely to preserve the score. And the most obvious proof is that defender Yasser Al-Shahrani had to leave the field with a broken nose in the last minutes of the match against Argentina because of his determination to protect the home team's net.

It would also be remiss not to mention coach Herve Renard - who has experienced many different clubs and national teams. Many failures, but the laurels of glory are always overflowing. This coach once led the Zambia team to the African championship in 2012. 3 years later, he was once again at the top of the black continent when he took the reins of the Ivory Coast team. 

Not stopping there, he also made a mark when bringing Morocco after 20 years of absence to win tickets to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Then in 2019, Herve Renard moved to lead the Saudi Arabia team. After that, he continued to impress when helping the Saudi Arabia team win a historic victory over Argentina.

Coach Herve Renard spoke in the Saudi Arabia players' dressing room after the first half. At that time, the score was 1-0 for Argentina.

"Don't you guys think we can come back? They're slacking. It's the World Cup, go for it!" His great energy spurred the fight of each student. Besides, it helps them get a historic victory over one of the leading contenders for this year's World Cup.

 

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Japan 

Following the fiery fighting spirit of Asia, the Japanese team also created a real earthquake before the 2014 Champion - Germany. Although they were much underestimated, the players from the land of the rising sun really fought amazingly. 

Coach Moriyasu showed a great reading of the game as he made two sensible substitutions with Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano. It was these players who scored to help the Japanese team get a spectacular comeback. Surprisingly, these two players are playing in the German national championship.

 

The Japanese players also added: Winning with the Saudi team also gave them great motivation that could surprise the German team. Before the tournament, Mr. Moriyasu set a goal to bring Japan into the quarterfinals - something they have missed in the past.

Although falling into the group that is considered death, the Japanese have never been pessimistic about the chances of progressing. Coach Moriyasu finally got recognition from the Japanese people after this unexpected victory. Previously, it was reported that he would be fired by the Japan Football Federation due to his poor performance in the Asian World Cup qualifiers.

South Korea

The Korean team also had a relatively impressive performance in the opening match with a goalless draw against Uruguay. Although forward Son Heung Min had a bad day, his teammates in the defense had an excellent game. They have completely contained the two most formidable spearheads on the opponent's side, Darwin Nunez and Luis Suarez.

Prominent among them is midfielder Kim Min-Jae, a rookie at Napoli club. Was brought to the stadium Diego Armando Maradona with the aim of replacing center-back Kalidou Koulibaly, who has moved to Chelsea. He has made a great contribution to Napoli's high flight this season. 

 

The 26-year-old midfielder continues to bring impressive performance at the clubs to the final round of the biggest football festival on the planet. And the Korean people hope that with this impressive performance and brave spirit, the Koreans will make it through to the group stage.
Korea is the Asian team with the best record in the history of World Cups with 11 participations, including one reaching the semi-finals in 2002. Paulo Bento's teachers and students have qualified for the qualifying round. 

In the 2022 World Cup, they are in second place in Group A, with 7 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. In the two most recent national team gatherings, the Korean team lost only to Brazil, they won against Chile, Egypt, and Cameroon and drew with Costa Rica and Paraguay. Right before the 2022 World Cup, the Korean team overcame Iceland with a score of 1-0.

Australia

 

The fighting mentality of the Australian national football team is  competitive as well. Australia is just one match away from reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time since 2006.

 

 

The Socceroos saved their Qatar 2022 campaign on Saturday, beating Tunisia 1-0 in revenge for a 4-1 loss to France in the tournament's opener. Meeting the French team in the opening match of Group D, the Australian players scored the first goal against the defending world champion.

 

This is a "consolation" gift for the Kangaroo team after the final result. Despite losing to 2018 champions France, the Socceroos' performance was admirable as they were the first to score and caused countless difficulties for the opponent.

Iran

 

Recently, the Iranian team followed in the footsteps of the brothers who brought pride to their continent. After the 2-6 defeat for England, many fans thought that this team could not overcome Wales. And not only that, but the absence of veteran goalkeeper Beiranvand has also raised a lot of questions about whether the Iranian team is the King of Blows like the opening match.

The performance on the field of coach Carlos' army proved the opposite. Goalkeeper Hosseini frustrated the strikers from Wales and the turning point happened in the 8th minute of injury time with Cheshmi's goal. And 3 minutes later in the last minute of compensation, defender Ramin Rezaeian also scored a 2-0 victory for the Persian stars.

 

The Iranian players also could not hide their excitement after this victory. They raised the excitement of coach Carlos Queiroz after the final whistle sounded. This is Iran's biggest victory in a World Cup, and this is also the first time they have defeated a team from Europe in the framework of a tournament. Iran continues to extend the winning streak of teams from Asia. And Iran's fans began to dream of the prospect that for the first time in the history of their beloved team, they would make it through to the group stage of the World Cup.

Looking at the impressive performances of the teams from Asia, we see their determination in this tournament. With those efforts, we see a determination of the Asian teams in this year's tournament. They are determined to rise up to no longer be looked down upon. Hopefully, they will maintain this form with the next series of matches on the group stage, delighting the fans of Asia.

Updates: As of November 29, Japan has lost 1-0 to Costa Rica, and Korea has experienced a 2-3 defeat to Ghana in the group stage.