In Qatar, Japan, South Korea and Australia are in the round of the top 16. Africa has also been strong so far, with Senegal and Morocco only making it into the knockout round for the second time since 2014.
The pioneers Japan and South Korea had qualified for the knockout phase in 2002 at the jointly organized World Cup premiere on the Asian continent. In Qatar, both made it through to the round of 16 in their last group game, beating Spain (Japan) and Portugal (South Korea) 2-1. Australia also defeated Denmark 1-0 on the final day of the group stage. After qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, the “Socceroos” switched from the Oceanian to the Asian association in order to be able to play at a higher level on a permanent basis.
Compared to the previous World Cup tournaments, the rise of Asia is due to the weakness of the teams from Europe and especially South America. While ten European teams and four from South America were still in the round of 16 in Russia in 2018, in Qatar there are only eight (Netherlands, England, France, Poland, Croatia, Spain, Switzerland and Portugal) and two (Argentina, Brazil). In 2010 and 2014, five teams from South America were involved in the decisive phase of the tournament.
The continental association North, South America and the Caribbean has remained constant compared to Russia 2018. Then as now, only one national team from this region made it through to the knockout stage. Four years ago it was Mexico, this time only the USA made it through. The highlight so far for the CONCACAF federation was three round of 16 participants at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Source: Nachrichten
