Asian fans rooting for World Cup underdog; Morocco 

SHAH ALAM – Asian Fifa World Cup fans are generally rooting for Morocco as they are the underdog, sports critic Rizal Hashim says.

He said the support for Morocco was intensified due to the fact that no Asian team had managed to enter the final eight matches.

"I think everyone agrees that Japan and South Korea performed creditably throughout the tournament, especially Japan having beaten former champions Germany and Spain in the group stages, but losing out to Croatia in the penalty shoot-up.

He reflected on the performance of the Asian teams which had recently been eliminated from the World Cup.

“I think that was a cruel decision because penalty shoot-ups are meant to be a lottery," he said.

"I think in general, the Asian fans are now rooting for the Moroccans as they are the underdogs and since the Cup is being held in the Arab world for the first time, many Arabs are rooting for Morocco to upset the form book and beat Portugal to enter the semi-finals, but they will meet France or England in the semi-finals,” he said.

Rizal then recalled the performance of the rest of the Asian teams as discussed in the Footy Forum, "Saudi Arabia performed creditably; they beat Argentina in the group stages, but they lost to Poland and Mexico, which is a pity.

"Iran as the top rank Asian team; they also performed creditably, they beat Wales, but they lost narrowly to the Americans. Australia despite being geographically in Oceania, but they are also part of the Asian family, so entering the knock-out stages also was quite an achievement for them," he noted.

Rizal, who is also the host for Sinar Daily's Footy Forum opined that the Asian teams performed quite well especially Japan, Korea and Australia which was reflected by the fact that they managed to enter the last round of 16.

The Malaysia's representative in the Ballon d'Or committee which essentially awarded male player with the best performance in a football season, also shared his expectation for the upcoming match between Portugal and Morocco.

"Sentimentally, I would want Morocco to be creating an upset, but I think it's a station too far for them."

"I think Portugal will enter the semi-finals and it will be something for Ronaldo to celebrate with his teams despite being on the subs bench," he predicted.