~snip~
I wouldn't really compare South Korea and Japan with Qatar, because Korea and Japan have a much longer football tradition, they have invested much more in football, and they have a much larger population and a much larger football base.
Just look at their results in the last world cups, Korea and Japan often make it to the knockout stages of world cups and achieving great results.
Ok, it seems that Qatar is currently achieving good results in friendly matches, but does anyone seriously think that they would have qualified for this World Cup if they did not have the direct right to participate as hosts?
Yeah, I agree. It's probably just the closest teams, yet still a bit different.
Given the group that Qatar is in, I really doubt they will go to the next stage.
My guess is that Ecuador and The Netherlands are the two teams that will end up moving forward, even though it will probably be a really tough group anyway.