ASIAN TEAMS CAN HOLD THEIR HEADS HIGH

South Korea and Japan may have returned home from South Africa but they can do so with their heads held high after both broke new ground at the World Cup.

Prior to this tournament neither nation had ever reached the second round on foreign soil, and both not only achieved that this time but with a bit of luck could have gone further.

The Koreans lost narrowly to Uruguay after dominating the game for long periods of the second half, and were only undone by one of the goals of the tournament scored by Luis Suarez in the closing minutes of the game.

In a competition which is proving to be highly successful for the South American teams, Japan lost to Paraguay yesterday in the first penalty shootout of this World Cup following a 0-0 stalemate in Pretoria.

Both South Korea and Japan have impressed and it is clear that the gap between the traditional giants of world football and countries like these two Asian nations is narrowing. A growing number of Korean and Japanese players now ply their trade in the European Leagues, which is testament to their improved technical ability compared to ten or fifteen years ago. There is also a team ethic evident in the way their national teams play that was sorely lacking in the supposedly superior French and English sides, both of whom capitulated in dismal fashion in South Africa.

Back in the 1980s Pele predicted that an African team would win the World Cup by the year 2000. A quarter-final appearance by Cameroon in 1990 was the best result from a team from that continent, an achievement that was equalled by Senegal in 2002 and could be bettered this time round by Ghana if they beat Uruguay on Friday.

African football on the whole was on the slide following Cameroon's last eight appearance at Italia 90. I can see no reason why the same should be true of the progress of Asian football. In two or three World Cups we could be looking at the likes of Japan and South Korea setting their sites higher and aspiring to win the World Cup itself. This could coincide with the hosting of the tournament returning to Asia - both Japan and South Korea have submitted bids for the 2022 World Cup.