KUALA LUMPUR, 10 December 2004 — Asia’s soccer powerhouse Saudi Arabia were drawn against South Korea, who reached the 2002 World Cup semifinals, along with Uzbekistan and Kuwait in Group A after yesterday’s draw for the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup.
Japan will play North Korea in two politically-charged matches. Japan are faced with the task of having to travel to North Korea after being handed a tricky draw.
The Asian champions were seeded separately from bitter rivals South Korea but were given by far the tougher assignment in a veritable ‘Group of Death’ that also includes mighty Iran and fast-improving Bahrain.
Japan will travel to Pyongyang for the first time in 15 years to contest a World Cup qualifier against North Korea. Japan lost in its last World Cup visit to North Korea 2-0 in 1989.
The draw was held at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, in front of hundreds of national delegates and media. The teams were seeded according to FIFA rankings, and placed in pairs into four pots.
Japan and South Korea were seeded first and second, meaning they couldn’t end up in the same group. Iran and Saudi Arabia, seeded third and fourth, also could not to be drawn to the same group, and so on.
The home and away qualifying round starts Feb. 9, with the top two teams from each group gaining automatic entry to the 2006 World Cup.
In the first round, South Korea hosts Kuwait, Uzbekistan hosts Saudi Arabia, North Korea travel to Japan and Bahrain is at home to Iran.
In Group A, South Korea and Saudi Arabia will be firm favorites to qualify automatically ahead of Kuwait and former Soviet republic Uzbekistan.
North Korea, the reclusive Communist state still harbors deep resentment over Japan’s military rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Recently the two governments have clashed over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and the issue of Japanese abductees.
A senior North Korean soccer official insisted politics would be put aside when the teams play their opening game in Japan on Feb. 9. The second match will be in Pyongyang in June.
“Politics will not come into it,” Jong In Chol, vice-president of the North Korean football association said.
The top two teams from each group go straight through to the 2006 finals in Germany, while the two third-placed teams will contest a two-leg playoff. The winner will then face a further playoff against a team from the CONCACAF zone to win a possible fifth Asian spot at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Though North Korea have achieved little since their shock quarterfinal appearance at the 1966 World Cup in England, Jong said they would not be overawed. “Japan, Iran and Bahrain are all strong teams,” he said. “But we are very happy with the draw and our players are confident about their chances.”
Japan also put a positive spin on a draw that could pose problems for Japanese fans hoping to travel to the away match.
