Other Football

Iran coach Ali Daei feels his side can reach the 2010 World Cup despite facing a tough final round of Asian qualifying.

At the official draw in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, Iran will take on fellow Middle Eastern powerhouses Saudi Arabia, North and South Korea and the United Arab Emirates for one of the two automatic spots in Group B to go to South Africa.

While the Saudis and South Korea traditionally prove strong outfits - the latter have made it to the last six consecutive World Cups - North Korea also showed they are a force to be reckoned with after they went through the entire third round without conceding a goal.

UAE will provide a stern test, as Iran can testify having only just edged out Bruno Metsu's side in their Group Five campaign during the third round.

Nevertheless, Daei is confident his men will be up to the task.

"I can only talk about my team and I think we have enough to qualify for the finals," he said.

"I don't feel any different to before the draw. I think we are in a tough group, all of them are respected teams so I have to respect all of them and they are strong."

Daei admitted he was most concerned about the threat North Korea will pose.

"North Korea are the strongest team in our group," he said. "It is a difficult job for us. They are tough games and we hope to optimise our preparations."

South Korea's head of administration, Chun Han-jin, is also confident of securing qualification.

"Both groups are very tough but out of the 10 teams, Saudi and Iran are the toughest," he said.

"We will prepare well and we already know our opponents so I think our players and our coaching staff can get our team in the top two.

"There are a few things we still need to improve but we have produced good results and I hope we will do the same in the coming months."

South Korea will once again face their northern neighbours after the pair were put together in the third round of qualifying.

Both previous games ended goalless but Chun is looking forward to taking on their close rivals again.

"We are the same as always, we are ready to invite them over for a match in Korea and we hope they will do the same for us," he added.

In Group A, Australia have been drawn against Japan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Qatar as they look to seal a place in their second consecutive World Cup.

Having switched to the Asian Football Confederation, their campaign is markedly harder than past qualifying campaigns, in which they invariably thrashed their Oceanic rivals before taking on a South American side in a two-legged play-off.

Instead, the Socceroos now need to finish in one of the top two places in the group.

Their manager, John Boulthee, is relishing the challenge ahead.

"We prefer to be in this position," he said.

"It's harder in a way but it's fairer and we get wonderful competition from these teams, so it won't be easy.

"Japan are very strong, Uzbekistan are being talked about as one of the teams to be careful about and we know Bahrain and Qatar at times can play very good football.

"We've got three nations that are reasonably close to Europe so the travel from Europe is not too bad. We've got some long trips home but the players are used to it and they do it willingly."

Australia will entertain Japan in the final round of matches in the latest instalment of a rivalry which began at the 2006 World Cup.

"I think it's a wonderful rivalry and the final game will be the pinnacle of that rivalry," Boulthee added

"If it's tight, you'd prefer to have your last match at home."

In addition to the top two in the group, the two third-placed teams willh face each other for the right to take on the best team in Oceania in a play-off for a place at the World Cup.