Imagining the Impact of an Asian Team’s World Cup Win

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: September 20, 2013

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An Asian side winning the World Cup would have a monumental impact on the global game.

South America and Europe have thus far enjoyed a duopoly when it comes to winning the World Cup, so a triumph for either continent is always the most likely outcome in future editions and would do nothing to alter the current status quo.

The implications of the United States or an African nation becoming world champion would be huge and has already been adeptly analysed by my Bleacher Report colleagues Joe Tansey and Ed Dove respectively. 

Nonetheless, for an Asian team to achieve the feat would potentially bring about a greater seismic shift in football than victory by a team from any other confederation.

Here I'll take a look at Asia's past record in the tournament, discuss who the front-runners to break the continent's World Cup drought are and speculate as to the consequences of such a win.

 

Historical Precedent 

Asia's involvement in the FIFA World Cup got off to an inauspicious start in 1938, when the Dutch East Indies, the continent's first representative in the tournament, were hammered 6-0 by Hungary and eliminated after one game.

South Korea's semi-final appearance at the 2002 version of the competition, which they co-hosted with Japan, remains the benchmark for Asian teams at the World Cup. The Taeguk Warriors rode their luck along the way, but they showed showed plenty of spirit in downing Italy in the first knockout phase and Spain in the quarter-final before losing 1-0 to Germany in the semi-final.



The next best performance from the South Koreans came in 2010 when they made it out of the group phase, only to be defeated 2-1 by Uruguay in their round of 16 game.

At the 1966 World Cup in England, North Korea famously upset Italy 1-0 in the group stage to qualify for the quarter-final, where they went down swinging, losing ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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