KUALA LUMPUR: Asia’s highest-ranked side Japan have been grouped with Australia, China and Saudi Arabia in the region’s final round of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The draw, which took place in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, also placed Oman and Vietnam, the rising stars of Southeast Asia, in Group ‘B’.

South Korea, seeking a 10th consecutive World Cup appearance, are the only team from the eastern zone in Group ‘A’, which also includes Iran, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The 12 teams for the final round were seeded in pairs before being divided into two groups of six during the official draw conducted at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters.

The final round of qualifying is set to kick off September 2 and culminate on March 29, 2022, with each team playing five home and five away matches.

The winners and runners-up in each group will advance automatically to the World Cup and the third place teams will meet to determine who proceeds to an intercontinental playoff for one of the last places at Qatar.

Japan and Australia were the only teams to go through the disrupted second round with a perfect record of eight wins, although the Australians had to play all but one of their games away because of restrictions in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Japan are aiming for a seventh consecutive World Cup appearance, while Australia and Saudi Arabia have each qualified five times before.

They took three of the continent’s five places at the last World Cup in Russia and will present a significant barrier to China’s hopes of qualifying for the tournament for the first time since their debut in 2002.

“Due to the pandemic, for almost two years we didn’t play any international games, especially abroad, so I wish before the final round of the qualification we can play some international games,” said China coach Li Tie. “It’s a very good group. We will try our best to play well in all the games.”

Oman and Vietnam are trying to qualify for the first time.

Australia scored 28 goals and conceded two, playing their last four games from June 3-15 in Kuwait when the AFC decided to play each group at a central venue because of travel restrictions.

“What we learnt in the second phase where we had to play seven out of eight games away from home, and we won all eight games, has given the players a lot of belief and confidence when they play away from home,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said in a streamed interview following the draw. “We’ve shown in that second phase a lot of resilience ... so wherever we play we expect to win every game.”

The Australians haven’t beaten Japan since 2010, and the teams are meeting in the last round of Asian qualifying for the fourth straight World Cup.

Iran will again battle South Korea, with the pair having faced off in qualifying for each of the previous three World Cups. Both teams advanced to the finals in Russia.

The teams drew 1-1 in both games ahead of the 2010 World Cup, Iran had 1-0 wins at home and away in the 2014 qualifiers, and a 1-0 and a draw in qualifying for 2018.

“It will be a difficult group, a balanced group I think,” said Paulo Bento, who will be attempting to qualify South Korea for the country’s 10th consecutive World Cup. “But we will try to do our best and achieve our goal. The last two qualifiers, 2014 and 2018, the team had a lot of difficulties to qualify. That is a good experience for us. We learned from what happened in the past.”

United Arab Emirates and Iraq have both made it to the finals once before while Syria and Lebanon have never qualified.

Groups:

Group ‘A’: Iran, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon.

Group ‘B’: Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Oman, Vietnam.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2021