The Japanese team has advanced to the knockout round 4 times in 20 years, taking the lead for the first time and making history – yqqlm

In the early hours of this morning, Japan defeated Spain 2-1 and qualified as the top of Group E. Except for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, South Korea won the first place in the group by virtue of the host advantage, and Japan is the only Asian team that advanced to the knockout round with the first place in the group.

In the history of the World Cup, only 5 Asian teams have qualified from the group stage, including Japan 4 times, South Korea 2 times, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia 1 time each.

North Korea in 1966 and Saudi Arabia in 1994 entered the knockout round as the second place in the group. In the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, South Korea and Japan, as the hosts, won the first place in their respective groups with 2 wins and 1 draw. However, there was a lot of controversy in that World Cup. South Korea even beat Italy and Spain to reach the semi-finals.

In 2010, both Japan and South Korea broke through the group, but they both came in second. In 2018, Japan still made it out of the group, but they were still second in the group. In 2022, Australia and Japan broke through the group, but only Japan ranked first in the group. It is worth mentioning that Australia made it out of the group stage for the first time in history in 2006, but it had not joined the AFC at that time, and went to Germany to compete as the Oceania champion.

Therefore, Japan has qualified from the World Cup group for the fourth time in history, and it is also the only time that it did not rely on the host’s advantage to win the first place in the group. At the same time, Japan is still the Asian team with the most group qualifying times, breaking the record to 4 times.

“Victory against Spain! Congratulations on getting out of the World Cup group stage and winning the first place in the group! Coach Mori Yasuichi and the players are under a lot of pressure, but in the most critical game of this competition, you can still achieve good results, I would like to express my sincere respect for your efforts. I would like to share with the Japanese people the joy of the World Cup success.”