Asian And African Teams Have Best Ever World Cup Group Stage

Hwang Hee-chan’s late goal for South Korea against Portugal means that for the first time ever, three sides from the Asian Football Confederation have reached the round of 16 at the World Cup.

South Korea’s win over Portugal means it finished second in Group H and will join Australia and Japan in the next round.

That win over Portugal also means that when it comes to points per game, the AFC had its best World Cup since the group stages were expanded to 32 teams.

Six Asian sides competed at Qatar 2022, the most ever, and apart from the hosts Qatar, all of the sides won at least one match.

The six sides won seven matches between them and drew one, to give an average of 3.67 points per team. That’s better than in the group stages of the 2002 and 2010 tournaments when Asian sides achieved an average of 3.5 points per team.

It is the confederation’s best performance of the 32-team group stage era. The only time that Asian sides have managed a better points-per-team average was in 1994, when Saudi Arabia and South Korea were the continent’s only representatives. North Korea also managed what would today be classed as four points back in 1966.

Asian sides at this World Cup also produced a series of upsets, with Saudi Arabia beating Argentina in a game that really got the World Cup up-and-running. Japan beat Spain and Germany, to survive the so-called “Group of Death”, despite a surprise loss to Costa Rica. South Korea’s win over Portugal came despite the Taegeuk Warriors having their head coach suspended and their best defender sidelined with injury. These victories will provide hope that at least one of the three teams in the knockout rounds can go even further in the competition.

Two African sides, Morocco and Senegal, also made it to the round of 16, equaling the continent’s best ever group stage performance in 2014 when Algeria and Nigeria reached the knockout rounds.

When it comes to points per team, the five African sides this year smashed their previous points record total, winning seven matches and drawing three for an average of 4.8 points per team – twice what they managed in 2014. Cameroon’s win over Brazil, combined with Tunisia beating France in the final round of group stage matches, means that every African team at Qatar 2022 has won at least one match.

Qatar 2022 was the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East and North Africa region. Five teams from the MENA region were competing at Qatar 2022, earning an average of 3.4 points in the group stage. That’s the region’s best performance since Algeria won two of its matches in 1982 but was eliminated after the “Disgrace of Gijon” where in the final group stage match, West Germany and Austria played out a result that would benefit both sides at Algeria’s expense.

This World Cup was the first time that all African teams had local head coaches. Japan and Australia also reached the round of 16 with local coaches Hajime Moriyasu and Graham Arnold. South Korea’s Paulo Bento, who was forced to watch the match against his native Portugal from the stands, was the only overseas head coach from either confederation to reach the knockout rounds.

There’s not really enough data to say whether African and Asian teams’ performances at Qatar 2022 are a one-off or part of a trend, but it does bode well for the 2026 World Cup, and justifies the inclusion of more sides from the two confederations in that tournament.

The number of top-ranked teams beaten by sides from Asia or Africa also suggests that the three Asian and two African teams in the round of 16 could cause yet more surprises in the knockout rounds of the 2022 World Cup.