Asian giants begin World Cup quest

Asian giants Saudi Arabia and Iran were drawn against Hong Kong and the Maldives respectively on Wednesday as they begin their long quests to return to the FIFA World Cup in 2014.

The Saudis, who contested four consecutive World Cups but were agonisingly beaten in a 2009 Asian play-off by Bahrain, admitted they had little knowledge of Hong Kong, whom they will face for a place in the group stage.

"We are not familiar with Hong Kong," said Olympic team manager Wajdi Al-Taweel, who was in Kuala Lumpur to observe the draw at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters.

"Of course, our target is to qualify for the World Cup."

Iran should have no trouble against the Maldives as they bid to reach a fourth World Cup after appearances in 1978, 1998 - when they memorably beat the United States 2-1 - and 2006.

Iraq will play Yemen in the second round while China, whose sole World Cup appearance was in 2002, will face either Cambodia or Laos. The United Arab Emirates play India and Jordan will take on either Nepal or East Timor.

Malaysia will play Taiwan for the chance to face neighbours Singapore in the second round. However, Malaysia coach K. Rajagopal said his bigger focus was rebuilding for the next Asian Cup in Australia.

"Our main priority is one game at a time. I'm building a team for the future, a team that will qualify for the Asian Cup in Australia in 2015," he said.

Asia's top five teams - Japan, South Korea, Australia, North Korea and Bahrain - have a bye for the first two rounds, and will join qualifying at the group stage.

Meanwhile Iran's under-23 Olympic team was handed a blockbuster tie against arch-rivals Iraq in the second round of qualifying for next year's Olympic Games in London.

Mohamed Nabi Mehdi, general secretary of the Iran Football Federation, was confident of overcoming the physical Iraqis after the Olympic draw, also carried out in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

"Iraq is a physically strong team but Iran has both technical and physical strength. I'm optimistic we can beat Iraq," he said. "It does not matter who we play with, as long as we qualify for the London Olympics." Winners of 12 home-and-away ties played in June will advance to a group round starting in September. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2012 Olympic tournament. KUALA LUMPUR, AFP