Iran coach Ali Daei is confident his side will make the 2011 Asian Cup finals after receiving a decent draw for the qualifiers.

Thursday's draw, held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, placed Iran in Group E with Thailand, Jordan and Singapore - a line-up which holds few fears for the legendary striker.

"The draw was not bad and it is a good group for us," said Daei, who netted more than 100 goals for his country.

"We have a big chance to qualify and hopefully we can make it through.

"It was a good draw for us and we are favourites to qualify because there is no real competition for us."

Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic agreed Iran were clear favourites to progress from the group.

"Iran are the main team in the group and they will be favourite to get to the finals," the Serbian said.

"Their team may have been undergoing some changes but they have done well recently in World Cup qualifying and seem to have found the right balance in their team.

"They have a number of younger players but they are still one of the best in Asia and should be able to go through."

However, Avramovic believes there will be a close battle between Thailand, Jordan and his side for the group's second qualifying spot.

"When you are in the final qualifying round, all of the teams are good and I think that we all have an equal chance to go through," he said.

"We played against Jordan in January and we have played against Thailand several times in the SEA Games and Asean Championship so we know that they are both strong opponents.

"But we have also gained a lot of experience from the World Cup qualifiers and hopefully we can learn something from that for the Asian Cup qualifiers.

"The important thing is to make the most of our opportunities when they come our way. We had chances in our away games against Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan (in the World Cup qualifiers) and didn't take advantage.

"The good teams will punish you if you give up chances like that."