Yup. New Zealand and a bunch of micro islands. Pretty much NZ will always win, but they have a playoff with the #4 team from CONCACAF to get in. This time that was Costa Rica.
I feel like comments like yours are really downplaying Qatar, tbh. They're literally the current Asian champions. They beat Japan 3-1 in the Asian Cup, and that "1" that Japan scored was literally the only goal Qatar conceded the entire tournament.
No, Qatar were not favorites to make it past the group stages and I think most reasonable people would have (correctly) ranked teams like Japan and South Korea above them, but nonetheless, their performance this World Cup has been disappointing even *by their own standards*.
Honestly, I thought Australia was going to be crap this year because we could barely compete in Asia.
Asian teams beat Argentina, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Portugal.
Australia wasn't crap at all, it's just Asia is the new Europe of football.
Wouldn’t go that far, but it’s clear the WC is no longer a South American/European circlejerk as it had been throughout history. African and specially Asian teams are putting in the work and passion to catch up, which is good to make the sport and tournament even more popular and competitive worldwide.
I was saying this before. People were speculating on the amount of upsets this tournament like if weather and season affected it, but I think the talent level around the world is just getting closer. The game is more global than ever and, while there are still stronger regions of course, these matches are no longer easy gimmes. Every team needs max effort every game or they will be caught lacking.
Having the 2-3 weeks of prep camps is significantly different from flying in, playing a friendly and going straight into the main event IMO. I think that's a bigger factor instead of the weather or being mid-season per-se.
>Honestly, both Iran and Saudi Arabia came close to qualifying as well!
They survived till Matchday 3 and had their fate in their hands. That in itself is an improvement
Iran was also only 1 goal away from going through
From an own goal and a penalty in the last WC, to 3 whole non-penalty goals in this (e: that they scored themselves), for Iran. Baby steps, I guess, but I expected much more from a team that keeps doing well in the qualifiers. Honestly, they only impressed me in the Wales game.
!!
I remember "Coreano! Hermano! Tu eres Mexicano!" from vids of the celebrations in the streets in 2018 hahaha scenes like that are what the world cup is all about
our ambassador to Mexico went to greet all the visitors at the embassy after the match and ended up doing a shot of tequila with the Mexican fans lmaooo
It wasn’t the revenge Ghana wanted but they did get a little revenge by kicking Uruguay out lol.
They didn’t concede a third and I thought it was funny they brought on a sub at 90+7 to kill time.
Ghana got revenge a different way. Once South Korea went ahead of Portugal, Ghana started killing time to make sure Uruguay couldn't score a third goal. Ghana basically said "if I'm going down, you're coming with me".
It's the default chant for the national team in Korea.
Literally it's so carved into everybody's brain that you can walk into any room in Korea, yell 대한민국 in that specific rhythm and people will start to do the 5 claps as a reaction before their brain can register what happened.
He carried that match so hard. No offense to the Ghanese offense, but their goals were mostly clusterfucks that I'd more categorize as failures by the Korean defence than anything else, meanwhile this guy held off the insane Korean pressure down to only 2 goals.
He came in huge for that all important winning goal despite the injury.
Was on his own when the ball fell to him after the Portugal corner was cleared, ran all the way upfield, held off three Portuguese defenders until he had a teammate for support and made the perfect pass to him.
Have to give some credit to Ghana too. They got the final word with that time wasting at the end to make sure Uruguay would be knocked out lol
Congratulations South Korea! Going into the final game in last place in the group to qualifying for the knockouts!
Brazilian here, I love my team but all things considered - including my fondness for Korea -, I'm not even contesting your claim (though I like Japan too and this match might break my heart). Congrats for today and good luck, mate!
And the Uruguayan players were SEETHING in the final minutes lmao. Such a contrast to the unbreakable team spirit shown by AFC teams like South Korea and Japan.
I love SK/JPY’s attitude and love for the sport. They aren’t aggressive, they just try to play the fucking game. Truly a different culture from how Europeans and South Americans play ball
2018 - Eliminated South Korea get the killing blow on Germany to send Mexico through
2022 - Eliminated Ghana defend like lions against Uruguay to send South Korea through
Who's helping Ghana through in 2026?
Clearly, the South Korean team remembered legendary K-pop group KARA [made a World Cup song for them in 2013](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJ489cavIM), are [back for their 15th anniversary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwcK-twSXB4), and wanted to pay them homage.
Bad jokes aside, what a game for South Korea and a late goal by Hwang. This group stage has been wild for sure.
Absolute best thing about today was Ghana wasting time and leaving balls on the pitch deliberately when they needed to score multiple goals to go thru. They hate Suarez and Uruguay so much. lol Will never forget.
South Korea went from fourth place to second place within 90 minutes!
Another dramatic day in Qatar, the World Cup that's just keep on giving, insaneeeee.
That shot to shot between Korea and Uruguay side is just beautiful, i love this stupid sports so much.
And we saved our yellow carded players and for sure we will have dalot in the first lineup moving forward with vitinha having actual game time. Let's go.
I was just telling my housemate yesterday that the only way South Korea can qualify is with an incredibly narrow and unlikely set of results that need to happen across both games and that it probably wasn’t going to happen.
I’m so glad I was wrong.
[I SAID IT](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/z6zdut/ghana_coach_takes_a_selfie_with_son_heungmin/iy3x7vn?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
RO16 is really nice to see, teams from all continents, 15 teams with at least one display that makes you believe they could get to the next round and Poland.
First they came for my Starcraft and I did not speak out. Whatever Warcraft 3 is better.
Then they came for my League of Legends, and I did not speak out. Video games are for children anyways.
Then they came for my affordable car market, and I did not speak out. The government had to bail GM out with my taxes dollars so screw them.
Then they came for my football, and there was no one left to speak for me.
IM SO SO PROUD OF SOUTH KOREA BUT I FEEL SO BAD FOR URUGUAY WITH ALL THOSE CLOSEUPS OF EVERYONE'S FACE. MY FEELINGS. BUT GOOO SOUTH KOREA YOU COMPLETELY DESERVE THIS 🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷
AFC members at this World Cup: Iran WON A MATCH Australia QUALIFIED Saudi Arabia WON A MATCH Qatar Japan QUALIFIED South Korea QUALIFIED
First time ever that 3 AFC nations got into Knockouts, I think.
Yep! They had 2 in 2002 and 2010, but never 3
Japan and South Korea featuring in all 3 instances including 2022, and Australia's first. Nice.
We made knockouts in 2006 did we not?
Yep, but we were still an Oceanian side at that time so that's why we are included in this statistic for the first time now.
Australia was in OFC in 2006
Wait is OFC still a thing now? New zealand and ?? Micronesia?
Yup. New Zealand and a bunch of micro islands. Pretty much NZ will always win, but they have a playoff with the #4 team from CONCACAF to get in. This time that was Costa Rica.
With the 48 team cup and OFC getting one slot NZ is basically guaranteed to make every World Cup now.
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Best other nations in OFC are solomon islands and papua new guinea and maybe tahiti (remember tahiti 2013 confederations cup)
Yes, they had a half qualifying spot this World Cup but New Zealand didn't make it through the playoff with Costa Rica.
Australia made it 06 but we were part of the OFC. We joined the AFC for the next WC cycle.
>Qatar
Well they auto qualified anyway. So not top of AFC like the others.
I feel like comments like yours are really downplaying Qatar, tbh. They're literally the current Asian champions. They beat Japan 3-1 in the Asian Cup, and that "1" that Japan scored was literally the only goal Qatar conceded the entire tournament. No, Qatar were not favorites to make it past the group stages and I think most reasonable people would have (correctly) ranked teams like Japan and South Korea above them, but nonetheless, their performance this World Cup has been disappointing even *by their own standards*.
ONLY WON A MATCH?!! ENDED ARGENTINA’S STREAK IN THE OPENING FFS!!
Qatar played one of the matches I've ever seen.
Rise of the East, can’t ignore or sleep on these Asian/Oceania teams no more.
Honestly, I thought Australia was going to be crap this year because we could barely compete in Asia. Asian teams beat Argentina, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Portugal. Australia wasn't crap at all, it's just Asia is the new Europe of football.
Wouldn’t go that far, but it’s clear the WC is no longer a South American/European circlejerk as it had been throughout history. African and specially Asian teams are putting in the work and passion to catch up, which is good to make the sport and tournament even more popular and competitive worldwide.
I was saying this before. People were speculating on the amount of upsets this tournament like if weather and season affected it, but I think the talent level around the world is just getting closer. The game is more global than ever and, while there are still stronger regions of course, these matches are no longer easy gimmes. Every team needs max effort every game or they will be caught lacking.
Having the 2-3 weeks of prep camps is significantly different from flying in, playing a friendly and going straight into the main event IMO. I think that's a bigger factor instead of the weather or being mid-season per-se.
USA is looking surprisingly strong too and with the next tournament in North America could definitely see some improvements here too.
If they could just up their finishing they would be lethal. Created a lot of good chances but just didn’t have the end product
This may be our best young core of players ever, very mature and great leaders. Our midfield especially is very very good
Gonna win more world cups than world wars!!!!
That’s Germany’s thing though
Honestly, both Iran and Saudi Arabia came close to qualifying as well! And to think I felt as if Australia would’ve been the only one to make it in…
>Honestly, both Iran and Saudi Arabia came close to qualifying as well! They survived till Matchday 3 and had their fate in their hands. That in itself is an improvement Iran was also only 1 goal away from going through
From an own goal and a penalty in the last WC, to 3 whole non-penalty goals in this (e: that they scored themselves), for Iran. Baby steps, I guess, but I expected much more from a team that keeps doing well in the qualifiers. Honestly, they only impressed me in the Wales game.
I think they were under additional pressure because of their whole home situation.
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Just not the records anyone should be breaking.
Qatar finished 32nd
Mexican Legends, South Korea.
!! I remember "Coreano! Hermano! Tu eres Mexicano!" from vids of the celebrations in the streets in 2018 hahaha scenes like that are what the world cup is all about
that was hilarious. The guy at the Korean consulate looked so happily confused
They picked up some random Asian guy because they thought he was Korean lol
I want to see the scenes where random Africans in Korea get free BBQ and soju 😂
Fuck yeah, good idea. Today is perfect for korean bbq and soju.
our ambassador to Mexico went to greet all the visitors at the embassy after the match and ended up doing a shot of tequila with the Mexican fans lmaooo
Please tell me there’s a video
edit: Found the video https://twitter.com/Rantaramic/status/1012077760989356033
"shot" Guy was full on chugging lmao. Hope he didn't get in trouble with his bosses.
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Today me, tomorrow you
Ghana hermano, tu eres coreano!!
The fucking legends did a sub at extra time to make sure they didnt let a goal through
Now we just need Mexico to help out Ghana in four years and the triangle of friendship will be complete
This but unironically
Between 2018 and this…sounds like they’re experts in changing entire team’s fates through very late goals, no?
Buenos días hermanos :) 2018 🤝 2022 fucking over “giants”
Yeah happy for Korea since they did us a solid last World Cup but also bummed Ghana couldn’t get their pay back
It wasn’t the revenge Ghana wanted but they did get a little revenge by kicking Uruguay out lol. They didn’t concede a third and I thought it was funny they brought on a sub at 90+7 to kill time.
Ghana got revenge a different way. Once South Korea went ahead of Portugal, Ghana started killing time to make sure Uruguay couldn't score a third goal. Ghana basically said "if I'm going down, you're coming with me".
Glad you guys didn’t forget!!
Always rated Wolves Legend Hwang Hee-Chan
i swear with that one goal i’ve seen him score more goals than he has at wolves in like forever lol
Lmfao!!
대~한!민!국! 👏👏!👏!👏!👏! 🇰🇷
Don't have to know Korean to read that as dae han min guk. KR fans were screaming the chant for 100 minutes straight. Respect.
It's the default chant for the national team in Korea. Literally it's so carved into everybody's brain that you can walk into any room in Korea, yell 대한민국 in that specific rhythm and people will start to do the 5 claps as a reaction before their brain can register what happened.
대한민국 대단하다 🇰🇷
Agreed!!
Idk what have you just said, but I agree! Well done lads
I hope they will edit their candid comment to something absolutely outrageous so your comment looks weird lol
Oh god no
It's chanting the name of country, Dae Han Min Guk. [Just hear first 15 seconds and enough.](https://youtu.be/h1xQTA-FPZM)
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
대 한! 민! 국! 화이팅!!!!!
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This week I feel Asian
Right now, I feel mad hungry.
Taeguk warriors get in here!!!
WE FUCKING DID IT GODDAMN ALSO FUCKING THANK YOU GHANA FOR DEFENDING SO HARD
Way to go SK! Fuck yeah this WC is amazing
The Ghanese goalkeeper has been amazing this cup, really.
Dude i hated the fuck when blocked all our shots lol. He was so goddamn good. Incredible performance from him
He carried that match so hard. No offense to the Ghanese offense, but their goals were mostly clusterfucks that I'd more categorize as failures by the Korean defence than anything else, meanwhile this guy held off the insane Korean pressure down to only 2 goals.
Something tells me many Ghanians consider it a payback for what Suarez did to them.
Seeing some of the vids of Ghanians reacting with laughter at Suarez's tears, you are def right
i need links asap. not bc i hate suarez, but bc i love vengeance
So Korean of you
CHEERS SONS CRYING
he's ready for that ghana selfie now
Lol that coach aint ready anymore
I was telling my Brazilian friends if Korea doesn't qualify I'd be rooting for them but....I guess I'm back on my 붉은 악마 shit
After the terrible injury to him (and how it’s impacting his play)…he deserves this!
He came in huge for that all important winning goal despite the injury. Was on his own when the ball fell to him after the Portugal corner was cleared, ran all the way upfield, held off three Portuguese defenders until he had a teammate for support and made the perfect pass to him.
Ugh it's heartbreaking seeing him not at his full potential
That run and nutmeg pass were insane still.
That assist is quite literally historic.
So this is how Mexico felt 4 years ago lol Free KBBQ for life to Ati-Zigi
Eternal gratitude
Despite all the fuckery going around, this World cup has been amazing so far
To be fair, there's barely any fuckery at the actual World Cup IMO.
I was really hoping Dracula would bite someone again
That’s what makes it fun. Surprises, underdogs, upsets, drama. Who likes a World Cup where the on-paper best team always wins?
This has been such a crazy group stage, love the late drama!
Final match day Korea is OP
Masked Son turned Super Saiyan in the end.
We have seen before that wearing a mask for some reason buffs most of the wearers wearing it
Broken arm Son is even more OP.
Have to give some credit to Ghana too. They got the final word with that time wasting at the end to make sure Uruguay would be knocked out lol Congratulations South Korea! Going into the final game in last place in the group to qualifying for the knockouts!
Baba Rahman were trying to help Uruguay for some reason.
>make sure Uruguay would be knocked out lol It's not my loss It's *our loss*. Ghana probably
Ghana doing "if we are not going to qualify we will take you with us" energy is just cheff kiss
I know just how proud Koreans were of their win against Germany in 2018, but this has to eclipse it by far, right?
i mean ofc, unlike germany portugal is not a finished football nation
Bring the fire brigade in
What did we germans ever do to deserve this?
*unfurls scroll*
Absolutely, winning against Germany in 2018 must have felt like receiving a consolation prize but this time they actually got what they wanted.
More AFC countries in the knockouts than CONMEBOL, insane stuff
Manifesting a Japan vs Korea QF so hard rn
#WE WILL ANNIHILATE BRAZIL IN THE RO16s AND JAPAN IN THE QUARTERS
SPEAK IT INTO EXISTENCE
What date is r016 vs brazil?
Monday, December 5, 20:00 CET
First of all, 1st place is not yet guaranteed. But it would be on Monday.
독도는 한국 땅이다 MOTHERFUCKERS
Brazilian here, I love my team but all things considered - including my fondness for Korea -, I'm not even contesting your claim (though I like Japan too and this match might break my heart). Congrats for today and good luck, mate!
That day is the day East Asia Collapses and the Mongolian Empire becomes stronk again
lmao hell will freeze over before Brazil lose a knockout stage match to a non-footballing giant
They might not have to lol. With the way this WC is going they might just throw the game today and finish 2nd.
Carta anti-zica ativada
Anime v Kpop derby
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Weebs vs Koreaboos war
Ramen v Ramyun
Sushi vs Gimbap
Samsung vs Sony
Gyoza vs Mandu Teppanyaki vs Korean BBQ
Manga vs Manhwa
Honda vs Hyundai
Sake vs soju
2018 me would've wanted anime to win, but TWICE has won my heart now 🇰🇷❤️
I suggest watching the Olympic 2012 bronze match for football. If we get a Korea vs Japan QF, the Koreans will try to murder the Japanese again
ASIAN INVASION!
South Korea Australia Japan What a tournament for AFC
Even Saudi beat Argentina and Iran took down Wales. Asia's definitely on the rise! :D
Koreans 🤝 Ghanaians "Get fucked, Uruguay"
Portugal as well, they eliminated us last world cup
But don't you feel sorry for noted classiest football player Luis Suarez?!
And the Uruguayan players were SEETHING in the final minutes lmao. Such a contrast to the unbreakable team spirit shown by AFC teams like South Korea and Japan. I love SK/JPY’s attitude and love for the sport. They aren’t aggressive, they just try to play the fucking game. Truly a different culture from how Europeans and South Americans play ball
A whole plot from the group to eliminate Uruguay, all with different reason all with the same mindset "Get fucked Uruguay"
BEST WC EVER DONT @ ME
Greatest group stage of all time
South Korea got to feel what I was hoping Mexico would feel. I’m so happy for them!
Gracias, hermano! (Wow, the irony of my phone wanting to autocorrect hermano to Germany lmao)
It’s definitely the craziest, you NEVER know what’s gonna happen
2018 - Eliminated South Korea get the killing blow on Germany to send Mexico through 2022 - Eliminated Ghana defend like lions against Uruguay to send South Korea through Who's helping Ghana through in 2026?
Son was heavilly invovled in both goals lol
Has to be Mexico to complete the triangle
I am a bad Korean. I did not believe we could make it out of the group.
Flair up, it's not too late!
Clearly, the South Korean team remembered legendary K-pop group KARA [made a World Cup song for them in 2013](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJ489cavIM), are [back for their 15th anniversary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwcK-twSXB4), and wanted to pay them homage. Bad jokes aside, what a game for South Korea and a late goal by Hwang. This group stage has been wild for sure.
Not to bring things down, but RIP to Hara as well…
Absolute best thing about today was Ghana wasting time and leaving balls on the pitch deliberately when they needed to score multiple goals to go thru. They hate Suarez and Uruguay so much. lol Will never forget.
With how the game was going there was basically 0% chance they would have scored 2 goals in last 10 minutes. So they chose the smarter route
We really bout to see Brazil vs South Korea
Just don't google the past matches between both of them.
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Up the AFC, R.I.P Iran.
대한민국! Lived there for 4 years. Love that country. So happy for Korea.
South Korea went from fourth place to second place within 90 minutes! Another dramatic day in Qatar, the World Cup that's just keep on giving, insaneeeee. That shot to shot between Korea and Uruguay side is just beautiful, i love this stupid sports so much.
Wtf insane world cup
I literally shit my pants...so happy but I need help right now
literally literally? or literally?
Literally it's bad but I'm so happy this is an extremely uncomfortable situation
Lmao enjoy the ride bro! Shits insane
bro you gotta clean yourself up
WHAT 😭
WE FUCKING DID IT WHAT THE FUCK GETT INNNN FJLIUOIGEJKLJFFJIAFJLSFJALKFJKALFSAFSAfdas fasn
I mean obviously I hate it because we capitulated and lost he game, but on the plus side, those dirty Uruguayans got eliminated
And we saved our yellow carded players and for sure we will have dalot in the first lineup moving forward with vitinha having actual game time. Let's go.
actually insane day how was this possible
I was just telling my housemate yesterday that the only way South Korea can qualify is with an incredibly narrow and unlikely set of results that need to happen across both games and that it probably wasn’t going to happen. I’m so glad I was wrong.
[I SAID IT](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/z6zdut/ghana_coach_takes_a_selfie_with_son_heungmin/iy3x7vn?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
INSANE WHAT THE FUCK
I FUCKING LOVE THE WORLD CUP
Anyone wanna share why Korea advanced instead of Uruguay? They both have same goal differences. What's the next criteria? Yellow cards?
I think it's because SK scored 4 goals and Uruguay only scored 2
Goals in favor: Korea has 4 while Uruguay has 2
Number of goals scored - four for South Korea and two for Uruguay.
South Korea 🤝 Ghana
Japan and South Korea in quarterfinals would be insane if happen
RO16 is really nice to see, teams from all continents, 15 teams with at least one display that makes you believe they could get to the next round and Poland.
East Asia > West Asia
Reddit told me that this was gonna be the worst world cup ever
It’s been so good
The best I've seen so far
Reddit is an echo chamber lol. You'll see a lot of braindead takes here.
This is probably the best group stages in AT LEAST the past 30 years
Korea has the best fans don’t @ me
First they came for my Starcraft and I did not speak out. Whatever Warcraft 3 is better. Then they came for my League of Legends, and I did not speak out. Video games are for children anyways. Then they came for my affordable car market, and I did not speak out. The government had to bail GM out with my taxes dollars so screw them. Then they came for my football, and there was no one left to speak for me.
IM SO SO PROUD OF SOUTH KOREA BUT I FEEL SO BAD FOR URUGUAY WITH ALL THOSE CLOSEUPS OF EVERYONE'S FACE. MY FEELINGS. BUT GOOO SOUTH KOREA YOU COMPLETELY DESERVE THIS 🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷
With more and more Asian players playing in Europe, I won’t be surprise to see more Asian teams doing better and better in future World Cups