JAKARTA - Australia may be eliminated from the 2022 World Cup, but the way they are thrown from this tournament invites admiration from many circles. They were pressured but dared to push back the team which in any parameter was above Australia.
Australia, which has 16 European-based players in its squad but has not played for the continent's top club, has risen against a team inhabited by flashy names playing in Europe's top leagues, which are on average these continent giant clubs.
It was completely invisible that there were low self-esteem and inferiors from Australian players, so they had to pile up so many players in their own defense area.
It took a team as strong and fantastic as Argentina and an "alien" like Lionel Messi to get rid of Australia, which almost forced one of the 2022 world champions to play a draw that might end in a penalty shootout scenario.
The story of Australia is part of the success story of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) representatives in which the continental Australia is one of its members.
For the first time in World Cup history, AFC successfully passed three of its representatives to the knockout round.
This situation has never occurred in previous World Cup tournaments, including the 2002 World Cup which was also held in Asia, to be precise Japan and South Korea.
Even Japan entered the round of 16 while holding the title of winner of Group E in which there was a former Spanish world champion and four-time world champion Germany who actually returned home just like four years ago in Russia.
The two sejat football champions did not move in Japanese hands.
Together with Saudi Arabia, and also South Korea when they beat Portugal, the Blue Samurai were the Asian teams that created the biggest surprise at the 2022 World Cup.
Australia also did not happen to pass the group exam. They qualified for the round of 16 after collecting six points, the same as the number of points collected to win Group D, France.
Australia, which was previously considered the weakest team in Group D, actually finished second over Tunisia and Denmark, who was a former European champion and semifinalist at Euro 2020 a year ago.
The way South Korea escaped from its group is also as beautiful as Japan and Australia, including when ending the resistance to the 2016 European Cup champions, Portugal, in the last match of Group H with a score of 2-1.
The success of the Asian teams is part of a surprising and successful story in World Cup history.
For the first time since the World Cup was held in 1930, only in this edition was the knockout round of a World Cup followed by representatives of five continents or five representatives of major regional football confederations.
The AFC sends Australia, Japan and South Korea, while Africa sends Senegal and Morocco.
They all penetrated the dominance of the Americas and Europeans that always snatched knockout tickets from the World Cup to the World Cup.
However, judging from previous experience, among the three AFC teams is South Korea, which has gone the most far to the semifinals that have occurred in its own country in the 2002 World Cup.
As for Australia, the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup are the second time they have entered. Another Japan, the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup, is the fourth-large 16.
Australia has been stopped by Argentina, but will the two AFC representatives go further?
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Anything could happen, especially if you look at Japan and South Korea's previous trips, and also how Asian teams except Qatar performed during the 2022 World Cup.
Saudi Arabia, anomalous at the 2022 World Cup, even became the first team to make a surprise when they defeated the 2021 Copa America champion, Argentina, in the first match of the group phase.
It's called an anomaly because all members of the Saudi squad are domestic league products. But with this unique provision, brands can overthrow teams as tough as Argentine and star-studded.
Japan followed Saudi Arabia in creating a major surprise at the World Cup when it toppled Germany in the first match of the Gup phase a few days ago.
However, if you look at the results of the group stage matches, Japan is the most likely to make a surprise.
Japan entered the round of 16 after ending the group stage by topping its Spanish and German group.
So, Japan has gone through a relatively tougher test than Australia and South Korea.
Croatia, which despite the 2018 World Cup runner-up and Japan's opponents in their 2002 World Cup last 16, should not have been stronger than Spain and Germany.
Moreover, Japan is not an inferior party in their previous meetings with Croatia.
Since 1997, Japan has faced Croatia three times, two of which occurred at the World Cup.
Both teams have won once. Japan won 4-3 in a friendly, while Croatia won 1-0 in the 1998 World Cup group stage.
The last time they met was in the 2006 World Cup group stage when the two drew 0-0.
South Korea will be. Brazil, which even though it slipped in Cameroon's hands and became its opponent in the last 16 of this edition, is still the strongest team in the world.
Prior to his meeting with the Samba team in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup, South Korea had met Brazil seven times.
These six meetings were won by Brazil, while the other won by South Korea in 1999. But in this year's June friendly match in Seoul, Brazil won 5-1.
It is a little illustration that one-placed Brazil is an opponent that is too difficult to beat by South Korea, which is ranked 28th in the world.
Only a handful of teams with giant status could usually stop Brazil in a round as important as the knockout phase of the World Cup.
However, a World Cup surprise can still be done by teams that are considered more inferior.
Prior to the round of 16, a number of large teams including France, Spain, and Brazil seemed to avoid encounters with opponents they considered tough and could potentially end their journey to the top.
This can be seen from the way they did not field the strongest team in the last match or did not appear as determined as before.
They do not want to be eliminated early by choosing a team that is considered more bendable.
This situation shows that there is still a view that others are more inferior indicating that the gap in the level of quality of football is still wide.
But this premise is slowly being refuted after teams deemed inferiors performed surprisingly, including Australia, which is ranked 38th in the world, which provides heroic resistance against three-placed Argentina.
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There is no reason for Japan and South Korea not to exceed Australia's journey.
There is also no reason to be inferior in front of Croatia and Brazil. What is, maybe even enthusiasm and adrenaline that peaked to a level that had never been felt before by Japan and South Korea.
They, like other Asian teams except Qatar, will continue to appear in high spirits so it is impossible for them to apply tactics as long as they win, such as parking strategies as many players as possible in their own defense area.
Unfortunately, the Asian teams that entered the last 16 and also the World Cup finals, that's all.
But at least they have interesting lessons to learn from them during the Qatar 2022 World Cup that these Asian teams have thrown away the title of complement to the tournament.
On the other hand, Asia can be as competitive as established teams. This may be one aspect that can inspire other Asian teams, including Indonesia.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
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