Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi (C) celebrates with teammates after converting the last penalty during the penalty shoot-out to win the Qatar 2022 World Cup round of 16 football match between Morocco and Spain at the Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on December 6, 2022. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
Doha: Defeats for Australia, Japan and South Korea in the Round of 16 has brought the curtain down on Asia’s participation at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 but excitement continues to build as the global showpiece delivers pulsating action on the pitch and joyous scenes in the stands.
While the Socceroos, the Samurai Blue and the Taeguk Warriors now begin to look ahead to the AFC Asian Cup 2023, the eight remaining sides continue their quests to be crowned the world champions.
With a break in the action before the tournament resumes on Friday, the-AFC.com looks back at the stats and facts that caught the eye following the thrilling last-16 ties.
Golden oldie
At the other end of the age spectrum, Portugal centre-back Pepe became the second-oldest person to ever score at a FIFA World Cup when, at 39 years and 283 days, he headed home his country’s second in the 6-1 win over Switzerland.
Should the evergreen defender want to become the oldest, he would need to return for the 2026 edition because Cameroon icon Roger Milla, who scored his last World Cup goal at 42 years and 39 days during the 1994 edition, remains some way ahead of him.
Out in front
Olivier Giroud’s goal in France’s 3-1 win over Poland saw the striker overtake the legendary Thierry Henry as his country’s all-time top scorer with 52 goals, with his latest strike being his third of the campaign.
Elsewhere for the defending champions, Kylian Mbappe is the tournament’s leading marksman with five goals and Antoine Griezmann has set an incredible record of appearing in 71 consecutive games for Les Bleus.
Arabian joy
Morocco delivered another fabulous performance to see off title contenders Spain and become the fourth African nation to reach the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals after Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010).
Perhaps even more significantly, in what is the first World Cup to be played in an Arabic country, the Atlas Lions have become the first Arabic nation to reach the tournament’s last eight, where they can expect a rapturous support against Portugal on Saturday.
Young gun
Australia may be heading home after defeat to Argentina but, in what was a historic campaign for Graham Arnold’s team, Garang Kuol, at 18 years and 79 days, became the youngest player to appear in a FIFA World Cup knockout round game since a 17-year-old Pele starred at the 1958 edition in Sweden.
And the Central Coast Mariners forward came so close to taking the game to extra-time when his last-minute effort was expertly saved by Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to deny the teenager a headline moment.
Round of 16 woe
Japan thrilled at the FIFA World Cup with stunning come-from-behind victories over former champions Germany and Spain before ultimately falling just short against the 2018 runners-up Croatia in the first knockout round.
The defeat on penalties was the fourth time the Samurai Blue had lost at this stage after Turkey (2002), Paraguay (2010) and Belgium (2018) eliminated the East Asians in the last 16.
Goals galore
And finally, with 12 goals apiece, England and Portugal are the top scorers so far in Qatar and each side has had eight different scorers over their four games, more than any other team at the tournament.
The English and the Portuguese have each netted six in a single game – against the Islamic Republic of Iran and Switzerland respectively – while Portugal’s Goncalo Ramos became the first player to score a hat-trick in Qatar when he did so against the Swiss on Tuesday.
Perisic catches Suker
Ivan Perisic’s bullet header to level the score against Japan saw the Tottenham Hotspur man equal Croatian legend Davor Suker’s six goals to become his country’s joint-top scorer at the FIFA World Cup.
Perisic has netted goals at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions, while Suker scored all six of his goals – including one against Japan – in 1998 in France when he finished as top scorer, firing his nation to a third-place finish at their first-ever World Cup.
Flying Dutchman
Denzel Dumfries delivered a standout performance for the Netherlands in their 3-1 win over the United States with the right wing-back assisting his side’s first two goals as they went two up by the interval.
Then, after the United States had pulled one back to threaten a nervy finish, the Inter Milan star was again in an advanced position to volley home the third and seal a place in the quarter-finals for the Dutch.
