User:Crabbylucy/Sandbox/AsiaWorldCup

Men's World Cup
The definition of 'Asian country' in football does not exactly correspond to geographical definitions. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC )was founded on 8 May 1954. Nations with both European and Asian territory belong to UEFA, such as Turkey (member of FIFA since 1923, of UEFA since 1962, never joined AFC) and the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia. Israel and Armenia, which lie entirely in Asia, are also now UEFA members. Israel was a member of the AFC in the 1970s, but left owing to difficulties in playing matches against Muslim-majority countries. Australia, tired of winning the Oceania Football Confederation stage and then failing to qualify for the World Cup at the final playoff, joined the AFC in 2006.

The list below is of goals scored in matches involving AFC members or (before the AFC was formed in 1954) qualified through a FIFA-designated 'Asian zone'. It does not include, for instance, Turkey's appearance at the 1954 World Cup (when it qualified by beating Spain after three matches and a coin toss) or Australia's 2006 World Cup appearance.

It would have included goals by Turkey or the British Mandate for Palestine (the forerunner of Israel) had either team qualified from the Africa/Asia Qualifying Group for the 1934 World Cup, but Egypt qualified instead.

The first Asian country to compete at the World Cup were Indonesia, then the Dutch East Indies, in 1938. Like Africa's first representatives Egypt four years earlier, they played Hungary in a six-goal match. Unfortunately, all goals were against them in a 0-6 loss.

1930, 1934 : Palestine tries to reach the World Cup
The only Asian team to try to compete at the 1930 World Cup was an Arab club representing the Palestinian FA but their application was not accepted by FIFA.

Two geographically Asian countries attempted to qualify for the 1934 World Cup - Turkey and the British Mandate of Palestine. FIFA placed them in an Africa/Asia qualification group with Africa's only entry, Egypt. Turkey withdrew, and then Palestine lost to Egypt 1-7 in Cairo and 1-4 in Jerusalem. Thus no Asian teams qualified for the 1934 World Cup. Note that the Palestine football team consisted of Jewish and British footballers, not Arab footballers. and that according to FIFA, "the 'Palestine' that had partipated in previous competitions in the 1930s was actually the forerunner of today's Israel team and as such bears no relation to the national team of modern Palestine."

1938: Dutch East Indies is first Asian team at the World Cup
Palestine/Eretz Israel, Japan, and Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) applied to enter the qualification process for the 1938 FIFA World Cup. Palestine entered through the UEFA qualification process and were placed in Group 6 with Greece and Hungary. Palestine/Eretz Israel lost to Greece 1-3 in Tel Aviv and 0-1 in Athens and were eliminated. (Greece went on to face Hungary, lost 1-11, and Hungary qualified for the 1938 World Cup.) Japan and Dutch East Indies were placed in theAsian group but Japan withdrew and the Dutch East Indies qualified for the 1938 World Cup.

Like Africa's first representatives Egypt four years earlier, the Dutch East Indies played Hungary in a six-goal match. Unfortunately, all goals were against them as they lost 0-6 to the Magyars.

1950 World Cup
Israel, Syria, Turkey, India, Burma, Philippines, and Indonesia applied to enter the qualification process for the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Therefore no country with any territory in Asia played at the 1950 World Cup.
 * India, Burma, Philippines, and Indonesia were placed in the Asian group, Group 10. The latter three countries withdrew, so India qualified for the World Cup in Brazil. However, India refused to comply with the new FIFA ruling that teams were banned from playing barefoot, and withdrew. (Other reports say India withdrew "because of the expense of travelling such a long way to play". )
 * Turkey and Syria applied to qualify through the European section and were placed by FIFA in Group 2 with Austria. Turkey beat Syria 7-0 in Ankara and then Syria withdrew before the return leg. Turkey thus qualified to face the top ranked team in the group, Austria. But then Austria withdrew, so Turkey qualified for the World Cup. But then Turkey faced financial difficulties and had to withdraw itself.
 * Israel applied to qualify through the European section and were placed by FIFA in Group 3 with Yugoslavia and France. Israel and Yugoslavia played each other; the winner played France. Israel lost 0-6 in Belgrade and 2-5 in Tel Aviv and were eliminated.

1954 World Cup
India, Vietnam, Korea Republic, Japan, Republic of China (now called Taiwan), Israel and Turkey applied to enter the qualification process for the 1954 FIFA World Cup. FIFA rejected the applications of India and Vietnam., and Israel and Turkey entered through the European section.
 * Republic of China, Korea Republic and Japan were placed in the Asian group, Group 13. Republic of China then withdrew, so Korea Republic and Japan played two matches in Tokyo in March 1954 to decide the group winner. Korea Republic won the first match 5-1 and drew the second match 2-2 a week later, and qualified.
 * Israel were placed in UEFA Group 10 with Yugoslavia and Greece. Israel played both teams home and away, but lost all its four matches without scoring a goal, and was eliminated. (Yugoslavia won the group and qualified.)
 * Turkey was placed in UEFA Group 6 with Spain. Spain beat Turkey 4-1 in Madrid and Turkey beat Spain 1-0 in Istanbul. Goal difference was not used then to separate the two teams (if it had, Spain would have qualified), so they played a third match on 17 March 1954 in Rome to separate them. As they drew 2-2 after extra time, they had to be separated by drawing lots. Turkey qualified for the World Cup after a blindfolded 14 year old Italian boy (Luigi Franco Gemma, whose father worked at the stadium) drew Turkey's name from the lots.

Turkey and Korea Republic qualified for the 1954 World Cup in mid-March 1954. On 8 May 1954, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) was formed. The 12 founder members were Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

At the World Cup Finals in Switzerland, Turkey and Korea Republic were placed in Group 2 with both eventual finalists, Hungary and West Germany. Turkey lost 1-4 to West Germany, with Suat Mamat scoring Asia's first World Cup goal (if Turkey is considered to be Asian, having qualified through the European section) in the second minute, and Korea losing 0-9 to Hungary, both on 17 June 1954. Three days later, Turkey beat Korea 7-0. Owing to groups at that World Cup not being strictly Round Robin, Turkey did not face Hungary and Korea did not face West Germany. Korea were eliminated. Turkey had to face West Germany in a playoff to progress but lost 2-7 and was eliminated. On 21 June 1954, the day after Korea Republic was eliminated by a 0-7 loss to Turkey, the Asian Football Confederation was officially sanctioned by FIFA.

1958 World Cup : Wales qualifies from the Asia/Africa zone
China PR, Chinese Taipei, Cyprus, Indonesia, Korea Republic, Syria, Turkey, and Israel (who joined the AFC in 1956) entered the qualification process for the 1958 World Cup, competing in an Africa/Asia zone with Egypt and Sudan for one spot at the World Cup. This was the first time the island of Cyprus applied to enter the World Cup and due to its geographical position it could be considered a member of Africa, Asia, or Europe.

FIFA rejected the entry of Korea Republic. Turkey withdrew in protest at having to play in an Asian zone. Eventually Chinese Taipei and Cyprus withdrew, as did Egypt, without playing a match. Indonesia eliminated China PR after three games (a 2-0 win in Jakarta, a 3-4 loss in Beijing, a 0-0 draw in Rangoon, and then goal difference) but then withdrew after FIFA refused their request to play their next opponents Israel on neutral ground. Syria were eliminated by Sudan after losing 0-1 in Khartoum and drawing 1-1 in Damascus - after which Sudan withdrew in protest at having to play Israel.

Therefore Israel won the 1958 World Cup Africa/Asia qualifying zone without playing a match - like Indonesia (then the Dutch East Indies) did in 1938 and India in 1950. Had they not withdrawn for various reasons, Israel would have faced matches against Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, and Sudan. However, FIFA had - before the qualification process began - introduced a new rule that no team could qualify for the World Cup without playing at least one match. Therefore FIFA decided to make Israel compete in a playoff against a randomly picked (i.e. drawn by lot) and already eliminated runner-up from the other qualifiers. First chosen was Belgium, who declined. Next chosen was Wales, who agreed and then beat Israel 2-0 in Tel Aviv and 2-0 in Cardiff. Thus the 1958 World Cup spot originally reserved for Asia and Africa went to Wales.


 * Incidentally, this was also the first time that the 1956 Olympic gold medalists Soviet Union, whose geographical area (though not population) was mostly in Asia, applied to enter the World Cup.

1962 World Cup
Turkey, who had never been a member of the AFC, was now an established member of the European footballing community, having competed in the first UEFA European Football Championships in 1960 and with the Turkish Football Federation joining UEFA in 1962. Also, Cyprus competed in the European section of World Cup qualifying from now on, with the Cyprus Football Association joining UEFA in 1962 as well.

Israel, Indonesia, Japan and Korea Republic were the AFC members who entered the qualification process for the 1962 World Cup.
 * FIFA placed AFC member Israel in UEFA Group 7 with Italy, Romania and Ethiopia. The group was organized as a knockout, not a round robin. Israel beat Cyprus 7-2 on aggregate, then beat Ethiopia 4-2 on aggregate, but lost to Italy 2-10 on aggregate in the group 'final'. Italy proceeded to the 1962 World Cup finals.
 * Indonesia withdrew, and Korea Republic won 4-1 on aggregate against Japan to face Yugoslavia in the UEFA/AFC Playoff. But Yugoslavia won 8-2 on aggregate to proceed to the 1962 World Cup finals.

1966 World Cup
Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Australia, Israel and Syria applied to enter the 1966 World Cup qualification process. When it was announced that teams from Africa, Asia, and Oceania would be competing for just one spot, all 15 African countries (accepted by FIFA) and Syria withdrew in protest. This was the biggest boycott in World Cup qualifying history.

Despite being a AFC member, Israel competed in the European section. (Syria would also have been placed in a European section had it not withdrawn; Syria would only join the AFC in 1969.) Israel were placed in UEFA Group 1 with Belgium and Bulgaria but only managed to score one goal and no points in its four matches.

Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Australia were to take part in a qualifying tournament in Cambodia. Korea Republic withdrew in protest at the location. Korea DPR beat Australia 6-1 and 3-1 in Pnomh Penh in two matches three days apart to qualify for the finals.

At the 1966 World Cup in England, Korea DPR were placed in Group 4 with Italy, the Soviet Union, and Chile. Just over a decade after the end of the Korean War, North Korea still did not have diplomatic relations with Britain. The Korean team was only allowed to enter England after a diplomatic agreement not to play the North Korean national anthem before matches. The 1000-1 outsiders were expected to be the group whipping boys and their first match, a 0-3 loss to the Soviet Union, seemed to prove it. In their next match against Chile they were in danger of being eliminated 0-1 till Pak Seung-Zin equalized in the 88th minute for a 1-1 draw. In their third match on 19 July 1966, Korea DPR faced Italy, whose superb catenaccio defence and pedigreed players made them one of the tournament favourites. However, Italy were down to 10 men after 34 minutes when one of their players injured himself while fouling Seung-Zin. (Substitutes were only introduced in the World Cup in 1970.) In the 42nd minute, Seung-Zin headed a high ball to Pak Doo-Ik, who shot into the Italian net from 15 metres. While the Italians pressed heavily for goals in the second half, the North Koreans could also have increased their tally. The score ended 1-0 to Korea DPR in one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history The Italian coach lost his job, and the Italian team were greeted with rotten fruit at Genoa airport when they returned home (at night) after their early elimination.

eusebio, yodok, nk team sent to concentration camps

1970 World Cup
=Goals=

This list includes
 * Goals from Turkey's appearance at the 1954 FIFA World Cup because Turkey was not yet a member of UEFA at the time. Goals by Turkey after it joined UEFA in 1962 are not included.
 * Goal from Israel's appearance at the 1970 FIFA World Cup because Israel was a member of the AFC at the time.
 * Goals from Australia's appearances after it switched from the OFC to the AFC in 2006 i.e. from the 2010 World Cup onwards.

Goals from penalty shootouts e.g. Korea vs Spain at the 2002 World Cup, are not included.

=References=