Pohang's victory over Japan's Kawasaki Frontale helped the Koreans leapfrog the J.League giants to top spot in Group H.

The victory enabled the unbeaten Steelers to secure a knockout tie at the 16,800-capacity Steelyard Stadium against Newcastle, who secured second spot in their final Group E match, beating Ulsan Hyundai 1-0 in Korea.

Sergio Farias, who led Pohang to victory in the 2007 K-League, admitted he had wanted to be matched up with Newcastle to take advantage of the long distance the Australian side had to travel.

"We are a team that always wins. We have won the K-League and the FA Cup and now it's time we try to be number one in Asia," Farias, the former Brazil youth coach, told the-afc.com.

"Newcastle have skilful players with a lot of experience. They play compact football, are good on the counter-attack and will put pressure on us in midfield. We're working hard in training and trying to find the best way to play them."

Last year the Steelers lost twice to Australia's Adelaide United as they failed to get past the group stage in their ACL debut. The Steelers are led by Brazilian striker Denilson, who ended the group stage with four goals in the last two games, including a hat-trick against Australia's Central Coast Mariners.

Newcastle enjoyed their last visit to Korea, where Jason Hoffman's glancing header from Italian Fabio Vignaroli's left-wing cross was enough to beat Ulsan, which put them behind Nagoya in Group E.

"We knew it was going to be difficult but we achieved our goal. We were able to fight them off and that says a lot about our team's composure," said coach Gary van Egmond, whose side finished bottom of the 2008-09 A-League but quickly added reinforcements ahead of their Asian debut.