Another  anomaly is is that 100% of East Asian teams have qualified for the  knockout rounds! Most successful at Qatar.

It means 100% failure for West Asia though.

great to see so many asian teams progress, but I hope it doesn't weaken our achievement to get out of our group was incredible. 

fair enough man i honestly would be happy if Japan or Korea won the tournament - i have no confidence that it will happen - i 'did have money' on Korea to beat Portugal believe it or not 

i actually 'rate' Korea ahead of Japan but Brazil is a tall order for S.K - Japan could beat Croatia but i wouldnt put money on them would love a team from the AFC to make it to the final 8 would love it more if it was Australia 

Unfortunately, the two best Asian teams have to get past Brazil to make it to the semi final.
I certainly rate Japan an excellent chance to get past Croatia.

I watched this analysis from ESPN FC this morning. No mention of Australia. 

I guess Americans think Asian Teams = Players that look Asian. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNeOSSAg7PU

Arnie was asked at today's press conference to substantiate the rumour circulating in West Asian media that 2 players from the Socceroos failed drug tests after the Denmark game. 

There has always been a certain dislike from some parts of the West Asian world about Australia's place in the AFC.

What did Arnie say to that? 

some analysis on our game against denmark - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMaerJ2nc3o&t=1426s

they got belted by aussie fans when they wrote us off, but their german based guy had some good words about us and leckie. 

The other day they had a huge segment on Australia and we’re all very complementary about us. It went for about ten minutes. 

There was a Latino guy on there giving lots of praise to Australia. 

He first commented if he even needs to answer the allegation, but then just said it''s the first he heard of it and swiped it away.

Nvm

We all make predictions but don’t end them by calling everyone dumb kunts and having to wipe a money shot of egg off our face

for for someone who 'doesnt respect' me you tend to reply to almost all the post i make.....dw bruv i dont swing that way but if i did i'd let you have the money shot bahahaha 

Great stuff for the Asian confederation.

The key is now is to make the next level by going deep into tournaments, but a good feather on the cap for the AFC especially east AFC nations at the very least.

The west AFC nations have improved but their weakness is they dont have many players that play outside of their region except for Iran of course who are the exception, but I can see it holding them back especially Saudi Arabia who have good players but they play in the same league in Saudi Arabia.
They need to go European leagues or other parts of Asia like Japan, South Korea so they get exposed to higher levels more consistently. 

Imo their biggest weakness is their mentality.

They bottle it so much. Spend half their time trying to waste time or con a ref instead of playing the game. 

half the reason middle east players never really make it in Europe. They'd last five minutes 

Agreed, the Saudis and Iranians went looking for the draw from minute 1. 

That's why I mean they need to go outside of their comfort zone and learn to play in different conditions and test themselves in under pressure environments (not to say their own countries aren't capable of doing this) but it's one thing doing it at home and other doing it in foreign territory when you don't know the language or the football style of standard is more challenging and different.

It will make them more mentally tougher provided they get used to playing these kind of players and teams on a more regular basis, otherwise they are weak mentally because they not used to this kind of challenges the rest of the countries can given them especially when coming from higher confirmations experience who have higher quality and when get challenged they crumble under pressure.

The major problem between getting them to do it is...the $$$ they get from playing in their own leagues, no wonder they feel comfortable! 

The Saudi win against Argentina was pretty amazing!

Iran beat Wales too.

These are better results from West Asia than previous WCs. 

Also, Saudi were better than us in the WCQs. I was disappointed how they played against Mexico, who looked impressive against Saudi. I was surprised Mexico failed to get out of the group.

From playing in Asia it has made us mentally tough.

I'm not sure how Western Asian teams feel about travelling to East Asia? It would be an unfamiliar feeling playing the Socceroos in Aus.

At the last Asian world cup Korea and Japan both won their group with Korea going to the semis. Obv will be tough for South Korea v Brazil so we are relying on Japan to at least beat Croatia, otherwise It's probably a disappointing world cup compared to 20 years ago for me. 

Ease off Davstar, Davide.

 He has just created a thread saying he was totally wrong about Arnie, and the Socceroos, and is so proud of their Qatar success.

 He has become a true believer - like you and me ! 

Become magnanimous and give him some some love! 

i think tonight determines if Asia 'was under-rated' or perhaps we are 'rated' about were we are expected to be. 

I think most of the world expected 1-2 Asian team to make it out of the group given it is a world cup hosted in Asia - we had 3 so that is better then expectations but i dare say hosting the world cup in Asia you would expect a side to go deep in the the tournament like last world cup in Asia (S.Korea) and like Ghana did in South Africa 2010. If no one makes it to the 1/4s then that is probably below expectation we had 6 sides at this world cup and we are the hosting confed if we are out in the 1st knock out then we have probably under performed.... Asia wont host a world cup probably for another 16-20 years keep that in mind as well so we need to make the most of it.

they have every right to not like us - In 2014 NZ defeated Bahrain in the inter-continental play off with a side 'largely' made of Nix players 

Thus we helped knock out a nation from our own confederation a West Asian nation - that for me should of been the nail that fucked off the Nix but people here think NZ football somehow helps Australia when in reality it hurts us - unless we rejoin the OFC Nix shouldnt be in the AL. NZ football should be treated like we treat any other nation from any other confederation...

we also have taken up a qualification spot from Asia (every WC since we have joined the confed) which makes it harder for them to make World cups themselves - at the same time we dont have 'alot of money' so it isnt like we are pouring cash into the confederation or spending big on bring big names into the confederation - we have a decent national team which makes the top end more competitive for the confederation thus is why the tolerate us.... but lets be frank 

If an AFC nation helped Peru in the play offs and we lost - we would be pissed - now add in the rainbow politics pre-Qatar WC that was pushed in the media and by some Socceroos 

Honestly speaking can you blame them for not liking us?? 

i certainly don't 

To your first point, I do think there is some sense in that. If Australia is to be dyed-in-the-wool AFC members then we do need to keep our allegiances to the OFC in check. The Phoenix is a sore point for many, and Australia is stuck in a unique position. I'd personally much rather have an expanded league on Australian soil than a team from across the ditch, but that's a personal preference.

However to my second point and honestly speaking, West Asia had 3 teams in the World Cup in their literal backyard and yet not one of those teams progressed to the round of 16. 

Qatar went out with a whimper.
Iran had an easier group than us.
Saudi's had an amazing result against Argentina but failed to capitalise. 

Is Australia really holding West Asian nations back given the embarrassment of riches they have on hand? The fact they had 3 nations qualify for the World Cup?

Would be interesting to see who would have qualified instead of Australia if we weren't in AFC (AFC Playoff losers):
2010: Bahrain
2014: Jordan
2018: Syria
2022: UAE

I wonder if former EPL players like Jamie Carragher and Chris Sutton, who've rubbished the Asian Confederation, and us in particular, are aware that Asia has the same percentage success in progressing from the Qatar group stages as UEFA?

Sutton predicted Argentina would beat us 5-0!

Carragher said Asia would finish last in every group. And that he did not want to see the World Cup grow in size, because there would be more WC Qualifiers like Australia and Costa Rica in an expanded WC!

Japan are gone - only S.Korea left 

Japan deserved to win that :(