Asian teams up against it at World Cup as South Korea sweat on Son

Six Asian teams are trying to emulate South Korea's run to the 2002 semi-finals at the World Cup in Qatar. Qatar, Japan, South Korean, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Australia are hosting the tournament. South Koreans have only reached the knock-out round once since 2002. Son Heung-min fractured his eye socket playing for Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month. He is not sure if he will play in all of his country's first-round games. Japan have reached World Cups knockout round three times and lost their final friendly 2-1 to Canada.

Qatar have never appeared at the World Cup but they go into this year's tournament with some pedigree after winning the Asian Cup in 2019. Spain's Felix Sanchez is seen as a father figure who has nurtured Qatar's players during his 16-year association with the country. Iran's preparations have been anything but smooth, as Carlos Queiroz was re-hired to replace Dragan Skocic. Australia scraped into the tournament via a play-off with Peru. Saudi Arabia won their qualifying group ahead of Japan and will face Argentina, Poland and Mexico in a tough Group C.