There was no shortage of excitement in the world last week, what with Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un shaking hands and pledging to work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula. But the number of people tuning in to the "summit of the century" was probably eclipsed two days later when the World Cup kicked off in Russia.
Many of you probably were glued to your screens over the weekend, with the Portugal-Spain match an early highlight. Today South Korea will take on Sweden, and Korean fans are hoping that some of the feel-good vibes generated by the Trump-Kim encounter might carry over to the football pitch.
Sweden without Zlatan Ibrahimovic is, however, still potent as they qualified ahead of the Netherlands and had a better goal differential than France, the winner of their qualification group.
The fact is, none of the Asian representatives in this year's tournament is expected to set the football world on fire. The top-ranked Asian side is Australia, in 36th place, one position ahead of Iran. South Korea is ranked 57th, Japan 61st and Saudi Arabia -- 5-0 losers to Russia last Thursday -- is 67th.
Japan, with an ageing core of players who saw service in the 2010 World Cup, will begin their campaign tomorrow against Senegal. They will be looking to recover after losing four of their last six matches and sacking Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic in April.
Local opinion polls show that most Thai people are supporting Die Mannschaft, the defending world champions from Germany, but I am sure that many also wish to see Asian teams do well. None of the Asian representatives won a match in 2014 and a repeat would be no great shock to most seasoned football observers, no matter how fervently Asian fans hope for a different outcome.
Indonesia was the first Asian team to reach the final round of the World Cup, qualifying for France 1938, and this year the region's record five representatives are all in tough groups. Saudi Arabia still has to face Uruguay with Luis Suárez on Wednesday and Egypt on June 25. A point against Egypt is a possibility if the latter are without the brilliant Mo Salah. But don't expect a repeat of USA 1994, when the Saudis advanced to the knockout stage by beating Belgium and Morocco.
The Socceroos of Australia faced France over the weekend, with Denmark and Peru still to come. They were bottom of their group with zero points in 2014 and this year they had to scrape their way into the tournament by beating Syria and Honduras in playoffs.
The Taegeuk Warriors of South Korea face a daunting challenge in their 10th World Cup in a group with Germany, Mexico and Sweden. All eyes in Korea this evening will be on Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, the only Asian player on the ESPN list of the top 50 players in the tournament at 37th. (The top three are the usual suspects: Argentina's Lionel Messi, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazil's Neymar.)
Japan might have a chance in a so-so group with Poland, Colombia and Senegal, but the Blue Samurai are not the powers they once were. Their reliance on senior citizens such as Keisuke Honda will definitely be put to the test. Their best hope will be to improve on their miserable 0-3 performance of four years ago.
This leaves us with the side I think is probably Asia's best hope. Iran -- the Lions of Mesopotamia as they are known -- might trail Australia in the Fifa rankings but they are on form and boast a highly reputable coach in Carlos Queiroz, the Portuguese who has managed Real Madrid and the Portugal national side before taking his current job in 2011. Iran finished on top of their qualification group -- seven points clear of second-place South Korea -- without recording a single loss in 10 qualifying matches.
Iran opened the tournament against Morocco, needing three points to keep their knockout-stage dream alive. That's because they face much tougher competition from Spain (June 21) and Portugal (June 26). The match against the Spanish will be the toughest by far but hoping for a draw against Portugal is not such a far-fetched idea. It would certainly be nice to see an Asian team in the last 16 this year.