FIFA World Cup - Qatar 2022

[SecondWar]

SecondWar said:

S.Peelman said:

I looked up some stats after the Brazil game, turns out there have only been two times that a non-European or South American team has ever reached the semi-final. The USA in 1930 (!, the very first WC) and South Korea in 2002 in their own country. Neither reached the final after that, and even getting to the quarter final is a rarity for North American, African or Asian (nevermind Oceanian) teams.

Best Oceanian teams have ever done is Australia reaching the Round of 16 in 2006. The 3 other times they (before they moved to the AFC) or New Zealand qualified they didn't make it out of the groups.

From 2026 Oceania do get a guaranteed place but I'll find it more interesting to see if any other Oceanian teams can shock New Zealand. The last rounds tend to be knock-out matches so it is possible for a one-off shock result. So far though, that's only happened once, in the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, where New Zealand were beaten in the semis which lead to Tahiti winning the tournament. The only team that have a comparable size of population to draw on is Papua New Guinea but they seem to alck the resources to compete, although they did run New Zealand close in the last Nations Cup in 2016.