Asian football's second coming: Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea impress on 'Greatest Show on Earth'

Argentina had netted the ball as many as four times in the first half against Saudi Arabia - albeit only once legally - and it looked like Lionel Messi's men would run away with a convincing win. But the Green Falcons had other ideas. 

During the break, Saudi coach Herve Renard delivered a passionate speech, suggesting that the first half was merely a "friendly affair". Well, Renard was right. Saudi Arabia (ranked 48th) scripted a magnificent come-from-behind win against third-ranked Argentina. 

Surely it was one of the most stunning results in the history of the FIFA World Cup and data company Nielsen Gracenote suggested that it was statistically the biggest World Cup shocker. The win by Renard's boys was the first of quite a few splendid performances by Asian teams in this World Cup, which could well mark the beginning of the "second dawn for Asian football".

It's the first time as many as six Asian teams are participating in the World Cup (Australia are a member of the AFC). Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan made the World Cup finals through the AFC World Cup qualifiers and Australia through intercontinental play-offs. 

Qatar qualified being the hosts but they are the current Asian Cup champions and semi-finalists of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Although Qatar did not put on the best of performances in the tournament opener, they are expected to get better as the nerves will settle down in the next games.

It's only the second time an Asian country is hosting the World Cup, for the first time since 2002 when it was jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea. 

The tournament was sort of an eye-opener for the football fans around the world. The Asian teams were not quite considered forces to reckon with but they exceeded expectations in that tournament. 

South Korea progressed to semi-finals defeating the likes of Portugal, Italy and Spain at different stages of the World Cup before being beaten by Germany narrowly in the semis.

On the other hand, Japan won the group that also included Russia, Tunisia and Belgium, only to get beaten by semi-finalists Turkey.

Speaking of Japan, they produced yet another stunning result by beating four-times champion Germany 2-1. It was a carbon copy of the Argentina-Saudi Arabia match. Germany got ahead first up but South Korea's Bundesliga duo of Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano found the back of the net to upstage the German masters. Japan made the round of 16 last time around as well and impressed with their style of play.

Saudi Arabia's terrific win over Argentina inspired Japan to pull off something similar and although their win over Germany wasn't off the richter scale like the Arab country, it was certainly not the likely result. 

South Korea (ranked 28th), though, could not quite create their own World Cup moment against Uruguay (ranked 14th) but a goalless draw is not a bad result at all. 

The sudden rise of the Asian teams didn't seem on the cards two days into the tournament. Hosts Qatar were upstaged by Ecuador and England absolutely pummeled Iran, the best Asian team according to FIFA rankings. But the performances over the next three days were excellent, sometimes outrageous.  

The 2002 World Cup made the world acknowledge the presence of Asian football and with the likes of Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea getting the better of higher-ranked opponents, the ongoing Qatar World Cup may well be a sign of bigger and better things to come.