The World Cup knockout stage will start on Saturday with no Asian teams featured.

South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran all failed to clear the first hurdle, crashing out after the end of the group stage.

South Korea's goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae reacts after their Group G World Cup 2006 soccer match against Switzerland in Hanover. [Reuters]

Australia may be counted as the last Asian team left in the tournament, since they have joined the Asian Football Confederation before the World Cup.

But in strict terms, they are not the Asian team at least at the 2006 World Cup as they qualified by beating Uruguay on penalties in a playoff as an Oceania nation.

So the Asian campaign has come to an early end at the tournament.

Expectations had been running high for South Korea, the 2002 World Cup semifinalists, but their 0-2 loss to Switzerland in the final group match on Friday scuttled their bid to repeat the glory.

South Korea did notch its first ever World Cup victory on foreign soil against Togo, but the team's record of never qualifying for the second round in a World Cup outside of Asia remained intact.

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