GUADALAJARA, Mexico — After all the debate over how the expansion of the FIFA World Cup to a 48-team event could dilute the quality at the tournament, the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) representatives — for their part — have quickly shown they can compete.
With six of their nine competing teams having already opened their campaign, the AFC is yet to taste defeat — having notched two wins and four draws, and some of these have come against formidable opposition.
South Korea kicked things off on the opening day with a stirring victory over Czechia after initially trailing, and that was bettered two days later when Australia pulled off a 2-0 triumph over Türkiye who had originally been very dismissive of the threat that the Socceroos may pose.
– Instrumental against Czechia, Hwang In-Beom now has Mexico in his sights
– Japan justify sleeper credentials with dramatic draw vs. Netherlands
– Arise Irankunda: Australia has new prince as Socceroos shock Türkiye
In what has arguably been the match of the tournament so far, Japan came from behind twice to draw with world No. 8 Netherlands, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar both forced very creditable draws against Uruguay and Switzerland respectively.
Perhaps the only blemish came with Iran’s 2-2 draw against New Zealand, who — at the time of the group-stage draw — were the lowest-ranked nation at the tournament, although they have since climbed above Curaçao and Haiti. Even then, Team Melli deserve credit for fighting back after twice going behind — and looked the likelier of the two teams to snatch a winner towards the end.
But let us get the caveat out of the way.
These teams aren’t novices at the World Cup, having all featured at the previous edition in Qatar three and a half years ago.
The bigger tests will come over the next couple of days when some fresh faces are in action: debutants Jordan and Uzbekistan will be underdogs against Austria and Colombia respectively, while Iraq are returning to football’s biggest stage for the first time since 1986 when they face Norway.
Still, the results thus far should serve as a reminder that, while some of these teams may not be a familiar proposition to the average football fan, it does not necessarily mean they spell a walkover for the more recognizable European or South American nations — who are sometimes known only for the one or two players they have playing for a prominent club, like Uruguay’s Federico Valverde, Türkiye’s Arda Güler or Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka.
When you consider Qatar are 30 places below Switzerland in the world rankings or, in Saudi Arabia’s case, a staggering 42 behind Uruguay, those results show that these perceived “weaker nations” should be underestimated at your own peril.
Türkiye captain Hakan ÇalhanoÄŸlu predicted his team would dominate Australia, and was still in defiant mood after their loss — insisting they had done so, even in defeat. The fact of the matter remains it is the Socceroos who are equal top of Group D. Tony Popovic’s side had a game plan that was executed to perfection, and it would hardly bother them how much of the ball they had so long as it reaped the three points.
Although not too much should be read into the world rankings at times, the fact that South Korea sit 22 places above Czechia also suggests that perhaps they should have been expected to pull off their opening victory. Likewise, Australia actually sit four spots above the Turks.
Even then, just because they were “more-recognisable” European nations, many were automatically expecting that Czechia and Türkiye would be on their way to opening victories.
Of course, the World Cup will also always throw up the occasional stunning upset. After all, Japan did beat both Germany and Spain at the last World Cup. And who can forget Saudi Arabia’s stunning win over Argentina, which was the eventual champions’ only loss of their campaign? Even South Korea recorded a famous victory over Portugal.
When these teams appear on the radar of some people only every four years, it is easy to think that they will once again be cannon fodder. After all, in that time, the average fan had still been keeping abreast of the developments of Güler, Valverde and Xhaka through regularly following Europe’s top leagues and clubs.
Yet, just because the exploits of Saudi Arabia’s Salem Al-Dawsari, Qatar’s Akram Afif and Australia’s Nestory Irankunda haven’t been as well monitored does not mean they have been doing absolutely nothing. They too have been training, playing and working towards their next chance to perform at the World Cup with the same hunger, even if it has not been in the spotlight.
Asia’s unbeaten start to the World Cup has once more shown they cannot be underestimated nor disrespected. Not all of them will advance to the knockout rounds, but they have at least already shown that they can compete — and belong — at this level. People like UEFA president Aleksander ÄŒeferin would do well to remember that.
