In the final round, South Korea and Australia were tied 2–2 on aggregate, and a play-off on neutral ground in Hong Kong was played to decide the qualifier.
China PR and New Zealand finished level on points and goal difference, and a play-off on neutral ground (Singapore) was played to decide the qualifier.
The United Arab Emirates qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time, its only appearance to date, but lost all three of its games: 2–0 to Colombia, 5–1 to West Germany and 4–1 to Yugoslavia.
However they lost the decisive match 2–3 against title holders Germany, being 3-0 down after 20 minutes, pulling two goals back shortly after half-time but being unable to force an equalizer.
Saudi Arabia (0–2–0), which again failed to show any resemblance to the 1994 team that reached the second round, played most of the game with ten men after defender Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi was given a direct red card in the 19th minute for a poor tackle on Bixente Lizarazu.
The Saudis entered the match under new coach Mohammed al-Kharashi, a longtime assistant, after Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira was fired following the 4–0 loss to France.
In the 53rd minute, South Korea scored their second goal: Yoo Sang-chul ran towards Tomasz Wałdoch and Radosław Kałużny, then confidently shot between them and past goalkeeper Dudek.
Later on, in the 78th minute, an Ahn Jung-hwan glancing header completely stunned American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who seemed rooted to the spot as the ball sailed into the net.
Ten-men Italy finally fell to a 117th-minute, golden goal header scored by Ahn Jung-hwan, who at the time was ironically playing for Italian club Perugia.
The match started slowly: South Korea kept possession well and Germany appeared content to keep the volume of the crowd down, with both sides entering half-time level at 0–0.
Turkey, however, won third place after an entertaining 3–2 victory in a match that included the fastest ever World Cup goal, scored by Parma striker Hakan Şükür after just 11 seconds.
Song Chong-gug then managed to stun Turkey goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber when his long-range shot deflected off of Cha Du-ri's bottom, in injury time, for a last consolation goal that ended the game on a slight high note for the home fans.
Saudi Arabia were eliminated as the worst team in tournament, after three defeats and no goals scored, including an 0–8 loss to Germany, 0–1 to Cameroon and 0–3 to the Republic of Ireland.
Five minutes later, the stadium was momentarily silenced when Peter Van Der Heyden, beating the offside trap on the edge of the area, neatly lobbed Japan goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki as he came off his line.
Before the last match, against Switzerland, South Korea had a strong chance to reach the round of 16, in which only a draw would ensure the Koreans into the knockout stage, in case of France fail to beat Togo.
However, the match ended in a complete disappointment for South Korea: Switzerland scored first from a Philippe Senderos headed a goal off a Hakan Yakin free-kick in the 23rd minute.
The decisive match was with Nigeria, which ended 2–2 and with subsequent triumph for South Korea, because paired with Argentina's defeat of Greece, the draw sealed their first-ever progression beyond the group stage on foreign soil.
In the 68th minute, the South Koreans' luck change when, off of a free-kick, Bolton's Lee Chung-yong pounced on Mauricio Victorino's attempted headed clearance to score a nod-in from eight yards out; it was the first goal Uruguay had conceded in the tournament.
The South Koreans pressed and should have taken the game into extra-time, but substitute Lee Dong-gook's weak shot squirmed under the shirt of Fernando Muslera before it was comfortably cleared.
Australia were comprehensively defeated 4–0, and Verbeek was heavily criticised for his tactics,[29] with chief SBS Football Analyst Craig Foster calling for his immediate sacking.
Australia shot its only goal early in the first half by Brett Holman after Ghana's goalkeeper Richard Kingson fumbled the ball following a Mark Bresciano free-kick.
Wesley Sneijder's powerful 52nd-minute winner from just outside the box settled a fascinating Group E contest between two contrasting sides who opened up in the second half and were creating good chances right up to the final whistle.
Loitering just outside the penalty area, Sneijder lashed a powerful right-foot shot towards goal that goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima could only deflect into the net despite being well-placed to make the save.
Takeshi Okada's side had to survive a late scare as Jon Dahl Tomasson tapped in a rebound after goalkeeper Kawashima saved the Dane's penalty kick.
The Australian performance however, received praise from public fans for their determination in face of difficulties of their group, thus spared Australia from criticism unlike the rest of Asian teams.
Needing to beat the already-eliminated Bosnia and Herzegovina to clinch the group's second spot in the knockout stages, Iran wound up defeated 3–1 and lost the chance to qualify.
Iran, the highest ranked team from Asia at the time, arrived to the World Cup in Qatar with political turmoil at home and were hammered 6–2 by England in the first match in the group stage, but two injury-time goals to defeat Wales 2–0 gave Iran first-ever World Cup win against a European opposition, and meant that their fate was still in their own hands by the time of their third match against the USA.
In the second, against Ghana, they were 2–0 down at half-time: they pulled both goals back, only to concede a third shortly later, and were unable to force an equalizer, losing 3–2, leaving them needing to beat already-qualified Portugal in their third match and hope the other result was favourable.
In the second half Brazil noticeably eased up, and scored no more, in fact the Koreans pulled a late goal back, but 4-1 marked the end of Korea's and Asia's participation in 2022.
In 2020, the AFC selected five World Cup heroes and invited three experts Philippe Troussier, Afshin Ghotbi and Steve Darby to decide the best player among them, as well as taking a poll of fans, which would be responsible for 25 percent of overall points.