Japan came from behind twice to hold European heavyweight the Netherlands to a 2-2 draw in its World Cup group-stage opener. | Photo Credit: AP

A week into the FIFA World Cup 2026, Asian sides have made an impressive start to the tournament.

Qatar earned its first World Cup point against Switzerland, Japan came from behind twice to hold the Netherlands to a 2-2 draw, Australia pulled off a surprise 2-0 win against Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia battled to a draw against Uruguay.

Until Iraq’s defeat to Norway, AFC qualifiers had been unbeaten across their first six matches at the tournament.

According to Paul Masefield, the veteran commentator and part of the expert panel in India this year, these results are an indication of Asian sides closing the gap on the rest of the world.

“What you see in any walk of life is that when things start, there can be big disparities. But what happens over time is that, with an evolution of understanding the game, of coaching, of ethos, the gap gets smaller and smaller and smaller,” Masefield told Sportstar. “And that’s exactly what’s happened here, that Asia has managed to catch up to Europe, Africa, and North and South America to an extent.”

“Asia is here to stay. It’s putting its flag on the map and going out there to make sure that it can compete,” he added.

Masefield was particularly impressed by Japan, which fought back twice against the Netherlands to earn a draw, and backed it to go the furthest among the Asian teams.

“It’s just a well-oiled unit. And what it is with Japan is it’s a team. If you forget your individuals, it’s a team, that’s how they play. They play together, the community is there, the bonding is there,” he said.

“You look at the way they leave the dressing room. You look at the way the fans leave a stadium. The mentality and the mindset is just totally focussed on one thing, and that is to represent the country. Now, the abilities that they’ve got to go overseas and then come back and bring that experience with them start to rub off on the rest of the players as well,” Masefield said.

He also placed emphasis on the development pathways Japan has put in place.

“The development process in Japan is absolutely second to none. It’s one of the best in the world, the facilities they have, the development that they have,” he said.

“And there are a lot of countries throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa that are taking on the ethos that the Japanese use. They’re getting it right on the pitch and off the pitch, and when that happens, particularly off the pitch, you will be successful on the pitch.”

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Masefield also praised Australia, which produced a disciplined defensive performance to beat Turkiye despite its injury concerns.

“To play that way for 90 minutes is mentally draining, because you know that if you make one mistake, you’re going to concede a goal. I thought the discipline shown from them was absolutely fantastic,” he said.

Masefield also expressed his support for the expanded 48-team format being used in 2026, saying it had made the tournament more inclusive and given more teams the opportunity to qualify.

“I think it’s great because it means it can be more inclusive and it gives more teams the opportunity to qualify. And hopefully, in cycles in the future, Asia will get more spots and more berths,” he said.

“That is why we’re getting the likes of Curacao, Haiti, Cape Verde coming into the competition as well. OK, Curacao didn’t live up to expectations, but Cape Verde didn’t do too bad in its game, did it?”

He also noted that the expanded format offered teams that have not generally been in contention for the World Cup, including India, more hope of qualifying for the tournament in the future.

“I think it gives more countries bigger opportunities to qualify in the future, because you have a lot of China sitting at home going, we should be there. Indonesia, with the population it has, nearly 300 million people are going, we should be there,” Masefield said.

“So everybody is now going to be scrambling for this next cycle to be one of those 48.”

The interaction was organised by Zee5, the official broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in India.

Published on Jun 17, 2026