FOOTNOTE The AFC teams in Russia

No AFC team has won or drawn yet against a European team in this tournament, which suggests their chances in this World Cup aren’t that good.

There’s no question that this World Cup’s winners will come either from traditional football hotbeds Europe or Latin America. But as an Asian, I can’t help but ask: how are the Asian Football Confederation teams doing?

Saudi Arabia took a 5-0 beating from hosts, Australia was outgunned 2-1 by France, while South Korea yielded 1-0 to Sweden.

Of the AFC teams, only Iran ekked out a win against African team Morocco, 1-0. As for Japan, I am writing this piece hours before its match against Colombia.

That means no AFC team has won or drawn yet against a European team in this tournament, which suggests their chances in this World Cup aren’t that good.

So, is it all gloom and doom for the AFC teams playing in Russia right now?

Not at all. This World Cup might still not be Asia’s year, but one can’t help but be optimistic about the future of Asia’s powerhouse teams.

With the exception of the Saudi Arabia result, the matches all have been tightly contested. Both France and Sweden needed penalties to win against Australia and South Korea respectively.

And yet even the scoreline between the host and the Saudis doesn’t exactly tell the game’s story: the losing team controlled possession, at a mind-boggling 62 percent.

In the other two matches, the Europeans had bigger possession but not that much. The Australians held their own with 45 percent possession against the former champions, and so did the Koreans with 44 percent against the Swedes. Those numbers practically means that the AFC teams held the ball half of the time for the entire match.

And that is a big deal. Why? Because this shows that the AFC teams now have the technical skills, discipline, composure, awareness, speed and stamina, among other essential qualities, to compete at this level.

Gone are the days when the only chance AFC teams can have of winning was to park the bus, rely on long balls slash counter attacks, and pray the enemy makes the most amateurish of mistakes.

So why can’t they win? The AFC teams can’t pull the trigger, at least against the bigger Europeans. Saudi Arabia and South Korea attempted at least five shots but none were on target. Zero. Australia made six attempts on goal and hit just one on target, their lone goal.

The AFC teams have two games left each. Perhaps not enough time to make adjustments that translate to wins, but who knows?