A record three Asian teams have made it into the World Cup's last 16

Just one day after Japan’s stunning upset over Spain to advance out of the knockout round, Hwang Hee Chan’s late-game goal against Portugal made South Korea the third Asian team to make it into the last 16 stages, a World Cup first. 

Australia was the first Asian team to join the last 16 in Qatar but all eyes were on South Korea after their stunning win over Uruguay. 

“I’m glad I was able to give this present to the fans,” Hwang said after celebrating his team's victory. 

This is South Korea’s third time advancing past the World Cup’s group stage and it is indicative of just how exceptional this year is for the world’s Asian teams.

The far east has always had some very talented and amazing teams, but they’ve never been able to make the magic happen so to speak.

Back in 2014, Australia lost all three of its group-stage games to Brazil and Japan achieved its first-ever goal in the World Cup against Jamaica. 

This year Australia won two out of its three group-stage games and Japan absolutely dominated both Germany and Spain, two of the World Cup’s toughest and most experienced teams. 

As a whole, the Asian nations competing in this year's World Cup took 16 points in the group stage, smashing their previous record of 15 points back in 2018. 

The only Asian team to not earn a point throughout this year's World Cup was host nation Qatar, but that's not for lack of trying. Qatar’s national team performed exceptionally well against both Poland and Mexico. 

Iran was also a breakout star, after getting absolutely hammered by England with a 6-2 the team quickly rallied and was able to defeat Wales 2-0. 

But no one expected Japan to be the darling of the games, but all of that changed when Ao Tanaka scored his game-winning goal against Spain at the 51-minute mark. 

"It is a World Cup of plenty of upsets,” said former Kedah head coach Azraai Khor, an expert in all things Asian football. 

Khor has predicted that at least one Asian team will qualify for the quarter-finals, but the jury is still out on which of the three it will be. 

 “Japan and Korea are among the elite teams in world football,” Khor added, “they are showing tremendous fighting spirit in Qatar, and I believe they will have a chance of reaching the quarter-finals.”

Japan has certainly proved its ability to go toe-to-toe with some of the World Cup’s traditional winners, but you should count Korea or Australia out. 

Soo-Hueng-woo has yet to really step up his game and Australia’s goaltender Ryan Matthew seems absolutely unbeatable going into the last 16. 

"Japan, Korea, and Australia have raised the bar for Asian football,” Khor said as he admired each team, and I hope other teams in the continent will emulate and make inroads soon.”

Whatever the outcome, we can be sure that this year's World Cup has certainly shown that Asia is becoming a powerful force in the football world and it will be interesting to see how things shake out over the final days of the tournament.