The last World Cup held in Asia, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002, saw several surprising results. Defending champions France and two-time winners Argentina were eliminated in the group stages and South Korea reached the semifinals, aided by bad refereeing.
As Asia prepares to host its second World Cup, the expectation is that there will be a few surprises. To make things more interesting, the Asian contingent is stronger than in recent editions, both in terms of number and quality. Qatar 2022 will see six Asian teams, of which three (Iran, Japan, South Korea) are in the top 30 in the world. Of the five teams at Russia 2018, none was in the top 30. And at Brazil 2014, not one of the four Asian teams was in the top 40.
Iran, Japan, South Korea and Australia (an Asian Football Confederation member) are good enough to be competitive in their groups. Hosts Qatar (rank 50) are in a difficult group with the Netherlands and Sadio Mané's Senegal, but can hope for a result in the tournament opener against Ecuador. For Saudi Arabia (rank 51), things look bad. The team is in Group C with Argentina, Mexico and the Robert Lewandowski-led Poland.
Even one draw in the group can be considered an achievement. But, all three of their non-Asian opponents would be taking the Saudis seriously. “Saudi Arabia has a solid defence and good tactical awareness,” Lewandowski tells FIFA+. “They are agile and capable of good build-up play.” During the qualifiers, the Saudis topped a group that had Japan and Australia. In recent friendlies, it held Ecuador and the US to 0-0 draws, and while it is not likely to progress, the team can have an impact on who makes it out of the group.
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