The Qantas Socceroos are set to find out their next opponents when the next round of Asian qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup is drawn in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night.
The Qantas Socceroos are set to find out their next opponents when the next round of Asian qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup is drawn in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night.
You can watch the draw live on Fox Sports News, just before the Newcastle Jets take on Gold coast United in the Hyundai A-League. But who will be standing in Australia-s way on the road to Brazil?
After rising two places in the official FIFA rankings to No.20, Australia are now the top-ranked team in Asia, and go into the draw as the top seed, alongside Korea Republic in Pot 1.
The draw will begin with Pot 2, containing Japan. The first ball drawn out of Pot 2 will be placed into A2 and the second ball drawn will be placed into B2. However if Japan is drawn first, they will take position A5 or B5 if drawn second to allow for them to participate at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, which will be held from 16-30 June 2013.
The next stage will see the balls from Pot 5 drawn with the first ball drawn from Pot 5 placed in the lowest position of Group A. The second ball drawn from Pot 5 will be placed in the lowest available position in Group B. The same procedure will then be applied for Pot 4, Pot 3 and Pot 1 respectively.
To make that simple, Australia's group could include Japan/Iran, Uzbekistan/Iraq, Jordan/Qatar and Oman/Lebanon.
So who should the Qantas Socceroos fear - if anyone? Qualifying so far has been a success but Holger Osieck and his team know not to take any team in Asia for granted.
In the third round, some teams performed as well, if not better, than Australia. Iraq finished top of Group A with 15 points, while Uzbekistan went unbeaten in Group C and finished with 16 points. Group E winners Iran also went undefeated and scored 17 goals in the process.
Which of these should Australia hope to avoid? Are Japan going under the radar after a less than convincing third round campaign? Who are the dark horses Holger-s boys should beware?
The Qantas Socceroos face a tough test, whatever the draw - let us know your thoughts below.