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Asian teams, including Korea and Japan, are doing well in this World Cup.
In addition, the power gap between the teams has decreased to the point that no team has won all three group stage matches.
Leveling World Cup, so it's more exciting.
This is Reporter Lee Seong-hoon.
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In the last six World Cups from 1998 to 2018, at least two teams have passed the group stage with all three wins.
Traditional strong players such as Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, and Spain trampled the underdogs and easily recorded a complete group stage victory.
This competition is different.
For the first time in 28 years, the group stage 'three winning teams' disappeared.
'Power leveling' is also revealed in the content of the game.
One-sided matches with a difference of more than 3 goals, which occurred 10 times in the group stage in 2014, have been reduced to 5 games in this tournament, and 3 of them were concentrated in the 1st game. We won and kept our hopes for the round of 16 alive.
Six countries, excluding Europe and South America, reached the round of 16, with Korea and Japan ending the era of neighborhood drums in Asian countries, which is the highest record ever.
As it was held during the European league season, the strong players in Europe and South America suffered from line injuries, which also led to a narrowing of the power gap between the strong and weak teams.
[Tanaka Ao/Japan national soccer team midfielder: Compared to the last World Cup, I am glad that Asian teams have caught up to the world level.]
Among Korean and Japanese fans, there is even growing anticipation that the quarterfinals between the two countries may be held. The leveling World Cup is adding interest.
(Video editing: Lee Jung-taek)