AFC nations in the World Cup 2018 and their performances
Asian nations started their journey in FIFA World Cup since 1938 when Indonesia became first to participate.
South Korea reached semi-finals in 2002 which is the best performance from any AFC nation so far. They reached quarterfinals once and second round twice. North Korea also reached quarterfinals once. Japan reached the second round three times but failed to progress further but they still impress critics with their football skills. Australia and Saudi are the other two teams who managed to cross group stage one time each. Tim Cahill from Australia is the top scorer from Asia. He scored total five goals in the World Cup.
This year we have seen a record five AFC nations participation. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Australia, South Korea and Japan managed for Russia 2018.
#5 Saudi Arabia
Group A - Russia, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Egypt
Matches:
14th June, 2018: Russia 5 - 0 Saudi Arabia
20th June, 2018: Uruguay 2-1 Saudi Arabia
25th June, 2018: Saudi Arabia 2-1 Egypt
Saudi Arabia reached Russia 2018 to qualify for their fifth FIFA World Cup and first since Germany 2006. It was not an easy group and difficult for Saudi to qualify from group A for the next round but fans were expecting some good fight from the team. They played well against Germany just before the World Cup in a practice match where they lost the game by 2-1 but showed some good character on the pitch. But the Green Falcons started their campaign in the worst possible way in the World Cup 2018. They faced a humiliating defeat against the host by 5-0 in Moscow. Amidst of huge criticism, they came back stronger in the second match and narrowly lose the game against Uruguay. And in the last group match, Saudi Arabia won their first World Cup match since 1994 thanks to Salem Al-Dawsari’s goal in the final minute of stoppage time against Egypt.
Overall not so bad performance by Saudi as it could have been worst after that 5-0 defeat.