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#2 Brilliant FIFA World Cup campaign
As mentioned before, Iran cruised to the FIFA World Cup with ease. Owing to their superior rankings, they received a bye in the first round and topped their group in the second round with draws against Oman and Turkmenistan being the only dent in an otherwise swift campaign.
In the third round too, they remained undefeated in their group and even earned a victory over the favorites South Korea. They were placed in a tough group alongside Spain and Portugal in Russia. But, they held Cristiano Ronaldo's UEFA Euro winning Portugal and almost pulled off an upset in their 1-0 loss to Spain. A late own goal even earned them a win over African giants Morocco.
Japan was the only Asian team to qualify for the knockout stages but, they had a simpler group comprising of Colombia, Senegal, and Poland. Australia couldn't even muster a single victory and Saudi Arabia only won against a disorganized Egypt. South Korea had a respectable campaign as they ousted defending champions Germany, but they lost their other two matches.
