- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The fourth and final round Asian Qualification draw for the FIFA Football World Cup of 2010 will be held today at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.
If you’re not already aware, the draw will see ten teams divided into two groups of five. Each country’s ranking is based on their showing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
The top five seeds for the final round, as confirmed by FIFA are:
1. Australia
2. Korea Republic
3. Iran
4. Saudi Arabia and Japan (joint-fourth)
Top seed Australia and second highest ranked nation South Korea cannot be drawn together. That’s the only thing we know for sure.
The teams are separated into four pots, from which the balls containing the names of the Asian Countries are selected to determine the final fixtures.
The pots are used to make sure seeded teams are evenly distributed between the two qualification groups and one group is not ‘easier’ than the other.
POT 1
Rank 1 – Australia
Rank 2 – Korea Republic
POT 2
Rank 3 – Iran
Rank 4 – Japan/Saudi Arabia
POT 3
Rank 5 – Japan/Saudi Arabia
Rank 6 – Bahrain
POT 4
Rank 7 – Uzbekistan
Rank 8 – DPR Korea
Rank 9 – UAE
Rank 10 – Qatar
The top two teams in each group at the end of the final qualification round automatically feature in the FIFA Football World Cup of 2010.
The two third placed Asian teams in each group play off home and away. The winner gets a second chance to go to South Africa by challenging the Oceania Champions.
The winner of this final game awarded the last remaining spot in the FIFA World Cup of 2010.
Australia’s national football manager Pim Verbeek says it doesn’t matter who we play. He’s not concerned about the opposition and says that the away games against any of the other teams will be the biggest hurdle – whether its Japan, Uzbekistan or whoever.
Pim admits we have to win our home games to have any chance of finishing first or second in the group.
Even die hard Socceroos fans would have to agree that these games are going to be very difficult and we’ll have to earn our right to represent Asia.
The teams are all going to present their own sorts of challenges and I know a lot of people are going to be watching the draw (live on Fox) with a lot of interest. The drawn opponents and future fixtures will generate a lot of discussion.
The long and winding road to Asian World Cup qualification has been a new experience for us all and a positive one at that.
It shows how far football has developed in the short time since our credible showing at Germany 2006.
It’s brilliant that seventy thousand people turned up to watch the Socceroos play a dead rubber against China; an amazing turnaround from the days of the Oceania qualifiers dead rubbers when two thousand might have turned up to watch.
The extra home games are also turning into a big money spinner for the FFA. The importance of the games will ensure the best available team will be chosen to play in the remaining games.
After the experience of the China game and given strong opposition, its not hard to imagine that all the home games could be sold out.
The FFA is grossing between four to five million dollars per home game, and that will help FFA make a profit this year, after an eleven million loss last year (even though the Socceroos made it to the World Cup in Germany in 2006).
From an FFA business development perspective, the teams to include in our qualification Group of Death to help maximize FFA’s revenue would have to include Iran and Japan.
And, of course, the FFA stands to collect millions of dollars in bonuses and prize money if the Socceroos get through to the next FIFA World Cup.
To further expand football in Australia and allow the FFA to move closer towards its goal of being self-sufficient, free from Government hand outs and a profitable business, the Socceroos have to get through this qualification stage and take their place among the 32 finalists at South Africa in 2010.
Will the results of tomorrow’s draw make a significant difference to achieving those objectives?
Love this article? Nominate it for The Roar’s Armchair Sports Writer Award. Or vote now for this week’s nominated articles.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.