Have Asian teams finally turned the corner at the World Cup?

The performance of the Asian teams till the first week of this World Cup, renewed calls for a debate about the qualification process for the finals which is based on continental representation. (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

At the start of the millennium, pundits dubbed this "the Asian Century". China's scorching pace of growth and India's rising GDP have proved they weren't wrong.

On the football field, though, Asian teams were still making up the numbers. Barring South Korea and Japan, which used their co-host nation status in 2002 to build a strong infrastructure for the game, none of the other Asian nations was able to raise the standard of the game to match those in Latin America or Africa.

In 1974 not a single Asian team was present at the finals of the quadrennial event. This year, it has a guaranteed four slots in the final with Qatar adding a fifth as hosts. Yet, barring South Korea’s fourth place finish in 2002 and North Korea’s stunning performance in 1966 when it beat Italy 1-0 to move into the quarter finals where it led Portugal 3-0 before a four-goal blitz by the legendary Eusébio sent them home, Asian teams have never gone beyond the second round.

By contrast, African teams like Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal have reached the quarter finals of the World Cup, while Nigeria on its first appearance at the finals in 1994 topped its group comprising Argentina, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Two days into the present World Cup it seemed the trend was likely to continue. If Qatar’s opening day show against Ecuador was disappointing for a host nation, Iran’s capitulation to England the next day was a shocker since it is Asia’s top-ranked team and many of its players turn out for clubs in Europe. Mehdi Taremi, a forward, plays for top Portuguese club Porto while Sardar Azmoun, plays for Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen. Nor is Iran a newcomer to this stage, having been to five previous world cup finals. Yet barring a 2-1 win over the US in 1998, it has failed to deliver. Qatar, of course, having bought itself a place at the high table, duly capitulated and was out of the tournament after its second loss in two games.

But come Day 3 of the tournament and the gloom was suddenly lifted by two incandescent performances, first by unfancied Saudi Arabia which turned the tables on Lionel Messi-led, two-time champions Argentina and then by Japan which did the same to four-time winner of the trophy Germany. By the end of the week, the fifth Asian team, South Korea, had drawn with another two-time champion Uruguay and even Iran finally found its form to topple Wales in a scintillating display of football.

Aided perhaps by familiarity with the conditions and bigger crowd support, Asian teams had finally come to the party. And high time too. The world had waited too long for Asia to become competitive at this level, given the favorable treatment it has received in recent years when lured by the potential backing of the continent’s members, successive FIFA bosses have backed more guaranteed spots for Asian teams.

Thus, in the 2026 World Cup to be held simultaneously in the US, Canada and Mexico, Asia gets eight direct places for the expanded 48-team tournament, up from the four as of now. South America, the standout performer among continents across previous World Cups, has six despite only one qualifier, Bolivia, ever having failed to make it to the quarter finals.

Indeed, the performance of the Asian teams till the first week of this World Cup, renewed calls for a debate about the qualification process for the finals which is based on continental representation. Looking at the performance of plucky Ghana which lost narrowly to powerful Portugal, Asia probably has an oversized representation. This despite the fact that there are many more people playing and watching the game on this continent than in any other.

While most team sports have some form of continental representation which has allowed the game to spread, in football Asia the spread and the popularity has hitherto not translated into performance when it came to the big stage.

That’s particularly galling when you have four-time world champions Italy missing from the finals robbing spectators and fans of the game with potentially mouthwatering clashes. Italy incidentally are the champions of Europe having won the UEFA European Championships last year.

Hopefully, with their performance in the ongoing tournament Japan, South Korea and Iran, while proving their own credentials, will also show the way to other Asian teams, in particular slumbering giants China and India.