| Agony of Doha (ドーハの悲劇) Miracle of Doha (도하의 기적) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1994 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers Matchday 5 | ||||||
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| Japan and Iraq failed to qualify for the1994 FIFA World Cup, allowingSouth Korea to qualify instead. | |||||||
| Date | 28 October 1993; 32 years ago (1993-10-28) | ||||||
| Venue | Al-Ahli Stadium,Doha | ||||||
| Referee | Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland) | ||||||
| Attendance | 4,000 | ||||||
In the final round of matches of thefinal round of Asian qualification for the1994 FIFA World Cup,Japan andIraq drew 2–2 inDoha,Qatar. If Japan had won the match, they would have qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Instead, Japan finished third in their group, allowing their arch-rivalsSouth Korea to qualify instead. The Japanese refer to the match as the "Agony of Doha" (Japanese:ドーハの悲劇,romanized: Dōha no higeki),[note 1] whereasSouth Koreans, becausethe country's national football team only qualified in the final minutes of this match, refers to it as the "Miracle of Doha" (Korean:도하의 기적,romanized: Doha-ui gijeok).
The failure to qualify for the World Cup, and the dramatic way in which it happened, caused great disappointment for Japanese fans. Football had become very popular in Japan with the launch of the professionalJ.League earlier that year and the team had never been that close to qualifying for the World Cup. Although Japan has since qualified for seven consecutive World Cup finals (even co-hosting one), team members from this match are still known as the "Class of Doha" (ドーハ組,Dōha gumi) and the phrase "Never forget Doha" (ドーハを忘れるな,Dōha o wasureruna) remains a rallying cry for fans.
Six nations (Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea) competed in the final round of Asian qualification for two places at the 1994 World Cup in theUnited States. The six finalists played each other in Doha, Qatar in a round robin format of matches that were held between 15 and 28 October 1993. After four rounds of matches and with two points for a victory (instead ofthree) for each team, the standings were as follows:
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Japan | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
 Saudi Arabia | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
 South Korea | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
 Iraq | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
 Iran | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | –2 |
 North Korea | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 9 | –4 |
(Win = 2 points, draw = 1 point, loss = 0 points; tie broken by goal difference)
In the 4th round of matches, Japan defeated South Korea 1–0 taking first place in the standings going into the final match. Although just one point separated the 1st and 5th spots and only North Korea had been eliminated, Japan would have qualified for the finals with a win regardless of any other results. Japan still would have qualified with a draw as long as either South Korea or Saudi Arabia failed to win its last match and Iran did not defeat Saudi Arabia by more than four goals.
The match was held on 28 October 1993, simultaneously with the rest of the fifth round of matches, South Korea vs North Korea and Saudi Arabia vs Iran, held in other venues in Doha.
Japan opened the scoring from a first-half goal byKazuyoshi Miura, but Iraq'sAhmed Radhi scored the equaliser just prior to half-time. Japan again took the lead with a goal fromMasashi Nakayama. The 2–1 score stood as the match approached the 90th minute.
The matches at the other venues had ended earlier, with South Korea beating North Korea 3–0 and Saudi Arabia beating Iran 4–3. This meant Japan would have to hold onto the score in order to qualify for the World Cup, with the combination of results eliminating South Korea.
However, Japan gave the ball up to Iraq, and just after the match enteredstoppage time,Jaffar Omran scored a goal through acorner kick, tying the score at 2–2. The referee blew the final whistle and finished the match moments after this, eliminating both teams.
         Japan |     Iraq |
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After the final round of matches, the standings looked as follows:
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| South Korea | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| Japan | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Iraq | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Iran | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 11 | –3 |
| North Korea | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 12 | –7 |
Saudi Arabia took first place with their 4–3 victory over Iran. Japan and South Korea were even on points, but South Korea held the goal difference advantage after the three-goal victory over North Korea, winning the tie-breaker.
South Korea would tie in subsequent matches against Iraq (2–2) and Saudi Arabia (1–1) and lost a match against Japan (0–1). Had Japan won this match against Iraq, South Korea would have been eliminated even if they won the match against North Korea held on the same day. But as Japan and Iraq tied in the last minute, South Korea qualified and the match was dubbed a "miracle" by South Korean media.
Dutch coachHans Ooft was sacked weeks after the match and the elimination effectively ended World Cup aspirations for the majority of the team, most notablyRuy Ramos and Miura, Japan's top scorer in the campaign. Only two Japanese players who appeared in the match, Nakayama andMasami Ihara, would go on to appear in Japan's1998 FIFA World Cupsquad, with the former appearing in the2002 edition on home soil as well.
The Agony of Doha would eventually serve as an inspiration for Japan's future World Cup qualification campaigns to this day.
After missing the 1994 edition, Japan eventually qualified for the1998 FIFA World Cup, before hosting the2002 FIFA World Cup along with their rival South Korea. The South Koreans dramatically beat Portugal, Italy, and Spain and ended in 4th place while Japan was eliminated in the Round of 16. Both teams lost toTurkey. It was the first time for both teams to reach the knockout phase.
Having since consolidated themselves as powerhouses of Asian football, they also qualified for every single FIFA World Cup edition since then, reaching the Round of 16 in three editions: in2010,2018 and2022. However, in each of these occasions, Japan got eliminated in dramatic fashion. They first lost toParaguay in 2010 in apenalty shoot-out, and then lost toBelgium in 2018 by 3-2 after conceding in the fourth minute of stoppage time after a Belgian counter-attack following a Japanese corner kick; the Japanese were leading 2–0 until the 69th minute. In 2022, Japan returned to Qatar to the2022 FIFA World Cup and qualified in the group stage defeatingGermany andSpain, however they got knocked out again in the Round of 16, this time taking the lead againstCroatia but falling in another penalty shoot-out that ensued after a 1–1 draw.[1][2][3]
For Iraq, this failure is just one part of the much larger World Cup drought. In comparison to increasing success of the Japanese side, Iraq has repeatedly missed the opportunity to qualify for every World Cup. Iraq has only qualified for the1986 edition. In addition, sectarian conflicts and internal turmoil have prevented Iraq from achieving a greater status in Asian football. Since this game as well, Iraq has not beaten Japan in a competitive match until 2024, when Iraq beat Japan 2-1 at the2023 AFC Asian Cup.[4] Iraq also suffered a losing streak to Japan since this game, starting with a 1–4 defeat at the2000 AFC Asian Cup (which was Japan's first win over Iraq), until 2017 when Iraq drew Japan 1–1 to end the country's losing streak.[5]
Beginning with qualifiers for the1998 World Cup, AFC has used home-and-away round robin format for its final qualifying round, instead of the single-venue format used in 1993. However, in two of the subsequent World Cup qualifying campaigns, Japan have determined its World Cup fate in neutral site matches.
In 1997, Japan and Iran finished second in their respective qualifying groups for the 1998 World Cup and met in the third-place match on 16 November 1997 inJohor Bahru,Malaysia. The match would decide the third and last automatic qualifying spot for Asian teams and the loser would faceOceania's representativeAustralia in a two-legged play-off. Unlike the match four years before, Japan fell behind in the second half, but scored a late equaliser and eventually won 3–2 through agolden goal in extra time, earning the nation its ticket toFrance. This match was known as the "Joy of Johor Bahru" (ジョホール・バルの歓喜,Johōru Baru no kanki) in reference to the Agony of Doha.
On 8 June 2005, Japan defeated North Korea 2–0 to qualify for the2006 World Cup inGermany. Although this match was scheduled as a home match for North Korea, it was moved toBangkok,Thailand and held behind closed doors as punishment for crowd violence in a previous match held inPyongyang.[6]
25°15′06″N51°32′07″E / 25.25167°N 51.53528°E /25.25167; 51.53528
