Why Asians struggle in world football?

By John Cheeran
The performance of Asian teams in the World Cup has been what it was expected to be. No progress beyond first round.
South Korea, Japan, co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup, did well to qualify for the championship but their astounding performance in the last edition, they could not repeat in Germany.
There is a chasm between first world and third world.
But one has to admit that South Korea and Japan are the Asian success stories and in many respects brush shoulders with the first world. Still they have fallen short of the stage that matters in the football festival.
Dragging the third world aspect into this debate will not be legitimate. African nations, by far behind Asian nations in Human Development Index, have done impressively in the past though this time around even their representation has narrowed down to Ghana who are running into Brazil in pre-quarterfinals.
Look at the teams that represented Asia in Germany. South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. These nations are by no means struggling financially. In fact these are among the richest nations among the world though Iran and Saudi Arabia are beset by unique cultural tendencies.
These nations have the infrastructure, they have the services of foreign coaches (Brazilian Zico handled the Japanese campaign while Dick Advocate took care of South Korea) and their players are well taken care of.
I believe these footballers had only one worry in their lives – how to play better football. Still they could not come up shocking, inspired effort that would have taken them into pre-quarterfinals.
Nations such as India should take heart from this situation. It is not our poverty that hinders our progress in world football. We don’t have eleven good footballers. Accept it.
Wealthier nations such as South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia, despite ensuring that their footballers get the very best in every aspect, could not progress beyond the first stage. That indicates to a paucity of footballing genius in the Asian continent.
Football is very physical game; and at the highest level, the game is now not played for 90 minutes; 120 minutes. And, then, the shootout.
In the age of extra time Asian players struggle to live through the ninety minutes. Fitness and build are very crucial aspects to succeed in football; if African nations have outdone Asia it is precisely because they enjoy the advantage in fitness and build.
Yes, skill matters. Asians do have the skill but they lag behind in controlling the pace of the game.
May be, there will come a time when Sony and LG can assemble super efficient men who can take on the might of the first world. Till such time India should watch and applaud the very best, every four years.