As of now, the group stage matches have been concluded for group H and for all the Asian teams. Japan is the only team to reach into the knock out stages. Going into the world cup, there were 5 Asian teams and this is the very first time that 5 teams participated. The teams to participate in world cup 2018 are Japan, S. Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Here is how they performed in World Cup 2018.


1 Saudi Arabia:

This is the fifth time Saudi Arabia was playing in World Cup. They did manage to go into Round of 16 during 1994 World Cup. Drawn in Group A, Saudi Arabia had a good world cup considering the fact that they are one of the lowest ranked nations in the world cup. Saudi Arabia had a worse start, they conceded 5 goals against Russia who were ranked below them. They improve a lot against Uruguay conceding 1-0 defeats. And at the last game, they defeated the Egyptians team with Salah by 2-1 to come home with honor. 

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2 Iran

Iran has qualified for the World Cup five times (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, and 2018) but never managed to go past group stages. During this course, they have managed two victories, one of them came against Morocco in 2018. 

Iran had a tough draw, with giants Spain and Portugal in their group. Iran had their one of the best world cup performance in their history this time, and they managed to accumulate 4 points. They just conceded 2 goals in this World Cup. They defeated Morocco in their first game, and they were excellent against Spain but suffered 1-0 loss. They had their best game against Portugal and managed to pull equalizer during the last minute, which was not sufficient.

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3 Australia:

Not an Asian country, but Australia represented Asia in 4 occasions out of 5 times they played in World Cup. Australia participates in World Cup 1974 and from 2006 to 2018. I personally expected a lot from the Australian team, but they didn't meet the expectation this time around. In terms of point collected, they have the worse record among the Asian countries as they just accumulated 1 point which came after drawing against Denmark. They played well against France losing 1-2. But their worse performance came against Peru losing 0-2.

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South Korea:

South Korea is the most successful Asian country in World Cup and they managed the fourth position during 2002 World Cup in their home ground. World Cup 2018 is their 10th entry in the final round. 

South Korea will be known for long in the history of 2018 world cup for pulling biggest shock. Their biggest achievement was the victory over Germany which knocked Germany out, and they finished above Germany in the table. Beside it, South Korea had very ordinary world cup overall. Korea lost against Sweden and Mexico. Korea managed the third position in the group that included Sweden, Mexico, and Germany. 

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Japan: 

Playing in their 6th World Cup overall, Japan became only Asian team to go into a round of 16. This is their third appearance into the round of 16, and first Asian country to reach there for 3 times. They qualified for the round of 16 earlier in 2002 and 2010, but couldn't go beyond that. 

In Russia, Japan played wonderful football. They were in Group H consisting Poland, Colombia and Senegal. They managed to pull out a victory against Colombia, and drew 2-2 with Senegal but they lost to Poland. At the end of Group stage, both Japan and Senegal have identical points, goal difference and goal scored, but Japan qualifies on basis of fair play. Thus, Japan is the only representative for a continent of Asia in the round of 16.

Which Asian team performed the best in your opinion?

 

Thank you,
@lawlees