| Agony of Doha (ドーハの悲劇) Miracle of Doha (도하의 기적) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1994 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers Matchday 5 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Japan and Iraq failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, allowing South Korea to qualify instead. | |||||||
| Date | 28 October 1993 | ||||||
| Venue | Al-Ahli Stadium, Doha | ||||||
| Referee | Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland) | ||||||
| Attendance | 4,000 | ||||||
In the final round of matches of the final round of Asian qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Japan and Iraq drew 2–2 in Doha, 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-rivals South 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] whereas South Koreans, because the 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 professional J.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.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).