A sweltering night in Cuiaba saw South Korea fail to grab three points, which put Asian soccer into an awkward situation: All four teams under the Asian Football Confederation failed to win in the first round of the group stage.

This was despite not yet meeting the strongest side in their respective groups.

Attacking soccer has invigorated the Brazil event; in contrast Asian teams offered four dull games.

The leaders of Asian soccer, who were expected­ to go further after a sensational performance in South Africa four years ago, were cut down to size.

If Sepp Blatter said that in future, they would only reserve two spots for Asian teams in the World Cup, he could expect to get support.

Aside from a rebuilding Australia, and a stick-in-the-mud Iran, China's East Asian neighbors of Japan and South Korea have obviously been on the up in the last four years.

Japan has seen a flowering of top young talent, with their key players hot-footing it into the European top flight, and with Italian manager Alberto Zaccheroni at the helm, Japan's record has been good.

After notching the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, several of the former South Korean under-23 players have seized the starting lineup of the senior national team, with a few of them transferring into the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

During the game against Cote d'Ivoire, Japan failed to play their usual possession soccer, with the left flank frequently left wide open.

Playing differently from the style of his predecessor Takeshi Okada's team, who played defensive soccer, Zaccheroni's Japan has relied too much on their offensive talent.

With a dominating offense and assists from fullbacks, Japan's scoring power was proved by their pre-World Cup warm-ups, despite also conceding several goals.

At their World Cup opener, dropping defensive all-rounder Hajime Hosogai from the squad left it hard for Japan to maintain their one-goal lead when facing a desperate Cote d'Ivoire side.

Meanwhile, South Korea started to play physically against a strong-bodied Russian side, putting their technical advantage aside.

South Korea's problems with their defensive line were highlighted by a 4-0 defeat to Ghana three days ahead of the World Cup. This forced  Hong Myung-bo's side to maintain a defensive posture in the game, with wing backs hardly pushing forward,  central midfielders who focused on defense, and front men who did not  play as part of the team, and ­instead squandered  their chances with long shots.

Changes in coaches have wasted the experience­ both sides gained in the last World Cup.

Now both Japan and South Korea will have an uphill struggle in their two remaining group games, not only against top seeds, in their respective groups, Colombia and Belgium, but then must play two teams that will be very focused on defense, Greece and Algeria.

It doesn't seem to leave either team with any option other than to make an all-out attack.

The author is the editor-in-chief of sodasoccer.com.