Host nation South Africa loom as the one soft landing for the Socceroos amid a minefield of potential opponents as they look ahead to the 2010 World Cup draw on Friday night.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) bosses Frank Lowy and Ben Buckley are coy on their ideal scenario.

But there is no doubt the draw in Cape Town will have a huge bearing on whether Australia can match their feat from Germany 2006 and advance from the group stage.

“I know what I would like but it’s not for publication,” FFA chairman Lowy said from Cape Town, where he is leading Australia’s 2018/2022 World Cup bid team.

“I really don’t know, this is really the luck of the draw.

“I’m very excited, waiting with great anticipation.”

The 32 World Cup qualifiers have been placed in four pots of eight, with one from each pot to be randomly assigned to each four-team group.

The Socceroos are in pot two, along with fellow Asian qualifiers Japan, South Korea and North Korea, north/central American teams USA, Mexico and Honduras, and New Zealand, meaning they can not be grouped with any of those sides.

Seven of the world’s best – including five-time World Cup winners Brazil and reigning champions Italy – are seeded in pot one.

But the anomaly is South Africa – the lowest-ranked team in the tournament and the only one that did not have to qualify because of their host nation status – also being in that pot.

It means that if the Socceroos are drawn against South Africa, they will not only face the lowliest potential opponent, but avoid the absolute cream.

But two other powerhouses, France and Portugal, who both missed seedings despite being ranked inside the world’s top seven, loom among the rest of the unseeded European teams in pot four, meaning which member of that pot the Socceroos face will also be crucial.

The remaining pot includes the five African qualifiers, plus unseeded South American sides Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay.

With the five lowest-ranked nations apart from South Africa all in Australia’s pot – the Socceroos’ Asian rivals plus Honduras and New Zealand – they are certain to face some tough opposition.

Their dream would be to draw South Africa (ranked 86th), Slovakia (34th) and Paraguay (30th), a group they could realistically hope to top, although sporting arch-rival England would make an enticing alternative if the Socceroos miss South Africa.

The nightmare would be facing Brazil or Spain from pot one, France or Portugal from pot four and Africa’s best, Cameroon, which would make Australia a long-shot to reach the 16-team knockout stage.

But FFA chief executive Buckley said it was pointless speculating ahead of a random draw.

“They’re things that are totally out of our control,” Buckley said.

“You have to play every team that you come up against and when the names come out of the barrel, we look forward to that with anticipation.

“You can’t sit there trying to craft what would be ideal draws because as we know its out of our hands.

“We have to meet every team with a great deal of determination.”

© AAP 2012

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