Report of the Asian Confederation.. Qatar 2022: Digital Stations

The 22nd edition of the World Cup concluded, as it will remain long in memory as one of the most wonderful tournaments, which witnessed a group of the most beautiful matches, great surprises and wonderful excitement, before Lionel Messi, captain of the Argentine national team, raised the most expensive cup.

This edition was the best ever for the teams of the continent of Asia, as six Asian teams participated in the tournament, three of which managed to cross to the elimination rounds.

The following report sheds light on the most important figures and facts witnessed by the participation of Asian teams in the tournament

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar witnessed the Asian teams achieving 7 victories, including two victories for Australia and Japan, compared to one victory for Iran, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

With this number, this version exceeded the previous record achieved in 2002, when the Asian continent achieved 5 victories, and that version saw South Korea qualify for the semi-finals, and the Asian continent teams collected 22 points during their matches, breaking the previous record of 15 points in Russia 2018.

Japan managed to overturn its deficit twice, to beat two former champions in the World Cup, as it beat Germany, the champion in 2014 and Spain, the champion in 2010, and caused Germany to exit in the first round.

The Saudi national team also managed to achieve a stunning 2-1 victory over Argentina, as it defeated a team that had previously won the championship title twice before, and was the only team to beat the Argentine national team that managed at the end of the tournament to achieve the third title.

The South Korean national team also managed to beat Portugal, the 2016 European Cup champions, to qualify for the knockout stages.
Three Asian teams succeeded in qualifying for the knockout rounds in Qatar 2022, a new record, after Australia, Japan and South Korea managed to cross their groups.

The previous record was qualified by two teams from the Asian continent, Japan and South Korea, in the 2002 and 2010 editions.

Japan managed to score its fourth appearance in the elimination rounds during the last six editions, while South Korea managed to reach this role for the third time, and this was the second qualification for Australia.

Participation in Qatar 2022 was successful on many levels for the Australian national team, as it defeated Tunisia 1-0 in the second match, and this was the first victory for the team since defeating Serbia 2-1 in South Africa 2010.

That match was also the first match in which the Australian national team kept a clean sheet since its 0-0 draw with Chile in 1974, after which the team beat Denmark 1-0 to claim its second consecutive World Cup victory for the first time in its history.

Although the Qatar national team was unable to achieve the desired results during the World Cup, at the same time it was able to record many historical milestones.

Qatar became the first Arab country to host the World Cup, while Mohammed Muntari managed to score the first goal for the Qatar national team in the history of the World Cup.

Salem Al-Dosari will remain as one of the greatest players in the history of Saudi football, and he managed to score a wonderful goal that helped secure the victory over Argentina.

Al-Dosari scored the winning goal for the Saudi national team against Egypt during the 2018 edition in Russia, and in Qatar he also managed to score a goal against Mexico during the third round, to raise his score to 3 goals in the World Cup, and to equal the same score with his compatriot Sami Al-Jaber.

Among the seven victories achieved by the Asian teams in the World Cup, four of them were victories that were achieved after being late in the result, as Japan conceded a goal in the matches against Germany and Spain before turning the score and winning 2-1 on both occasions, which is what Saudi Arabia did against Argentina, South Korea in front of Portugal.

The Asian teams also won twice with goals that came in stoppage time from the second half, as Hwang Hee-chan scored the winning goal 2-1 against Portugal in the 91st minute, while Rosbeh Chesmi and Ramin Rezaian scored the winning goals for Iran 2-0 against Wales in the two minutes. 98 and 101.

Experienced left-back Yuto Nagatomo featured in all four of Japan’s World Cup matches, taking his tally to 15 World Cup appearances for his country.

Nagatomo had previously participated in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups, raising his tally to four participations in the history of the tournament, and he is still one match behind South Korean legend Hong Myung-bo, who played 16 matches in the World Cup from 1990 to 2002.

Although Iran lost their first match in the tournament against England 6-2, striker Mehdi Tarimi scored a historic feat in that match.

Porto striker Tarimi became the first Iranian player to score two goals in a World Cup.

Returning to the records, the Asian teams managed to achieve another record, by scoring 22 goals in Qatar 2022, and Japan and South Korea topped by scoring 5 goals each.

And four players from the Asian continent managed to score two goals each in this tournament, and they are Al-Dosari and Tarimi, the Japanese Ritsu Doan and the South Korean Cho Gui-Sung.

Source: Asian Football Confederation