AFC - AFC Asian Cup 2011 finalists Japan and Australia will renew acquaintances in the Final Round of Asian Qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup after Friday's official draw saw the two continental giants pooled together in Group B.
Japan were automatically assigned in Position 5 in their group in order to avoid playing a Brazil 2014 qualifier on June 18 due to the continental champions' participation in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Brazil from June 16 to 30.
Japan and Australia have also been grouped with 2007 AFC Asian Cup winners Iraq, who are aiming to qualify for only the second time following their participation at Mexico 86, Jordan and Oman, both of whom are hoping Brazil 2014 marks their debut in the finals of the global game's greatest tournament.
Jordan were the early pace setters in Group A of the Third Round of Asian Qualifiers but with their place in the Final Round draw assured they tailed off at the end of the campaign and lost their last two games, which included a 3-1 home loss to Iraq that allowed the Iraqis, who are under the helm of former Japan coach Zico, to progress as group winners.
The draw was conducted by Windsor John, Executive Director of the AFC Competitions Department (pictured), alongside two legends of the Asian game in the shape of 71-time capped Japan international Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, who represented the Samurai Blue at the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and Iran star Mehdi Mahdavikia, a veteran of two World Cups having participated in the 1998 and 2006 tournaments, who made well over a century of appearances during an illustrious 13-year international career with Iran.
Iran, three-time World Cup qualifiers having also qualified for the 1978 competition, are in Group A where they are joined by familiar foes Qatar, their opponents the last match of the Third Round qualifying campaign.
Group A also sees outsiders Lebanon - the only one of the ten teams in Friday's draw to be outside the top 100 of FIFA's world ranking - once again go head-to-head with Korea Republic, following their two vastly differing matches in the third round of the qualifiers, the first of which saw the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists cruise to a 6-0 win before the Lebanese pulled off a shock 2-1 win in Beirut.
The final team in Group A is Uzbekistan, who ended their Third Round campaign with a 1-0 victory over the Asian champions in Japan to ensure that they joined Iran and 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar as the only undefeated teams in the Final Round of Brazil 2014 qualifiers.
The winners and runners-up of the five groups in the third round of qualifiers will be pooled into two groups of five at the Final Round draw, which takes place at AFC House on Friday, and will play each other in home-and-away matches beginning June 3.
The top-two teams from these groups will represent Asia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup while the two third-place teams take part in a home-and-away play-off with the victorious side taking on a representative from South America (CONMEBOL) in a two-leg fixture with a ticket to the finals at stake.
FIFA World Cup 2014, Asian Qualifiers - Final Round Draw results
GROUP A:
Korea Republic
Iran
Uzbekistan
Qatar
Lebanon
GROUP B:
Australia
Iraq
Jordan
Oman
Japan