Tough assignment: Iran and South Korea stand in way of China’s World Cup dream
Syria, Uzbekistan and Qatar also in same group while on the other side of the draw, Australia and Japan are joined by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Thailand in trying to make it to Russia 2018
Sleeping giants China face a tough assignment against Iran and South Korea in the final stage of regional qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
We need to tackle these opponents with our own style, a speedy game with great variation
War-torn Syria, Uzbekistan and Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts, were the other teams drawn in group A when the line-up was decided in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
Asian champions Australia and heavyweights Japan are in group B, along with Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and minnows Thailand.
The top two in each group will qualify for the World Cup in Russia, while two third-placed sides will face each other for the right to play the third-best team from Concacaf (North/Central America) in a final intercontinental play-off.
China are desperate to qualify for their first World Cup since 2002 (when qualification was a lot easier since South Korea and Japan had qualified automatically as hosts). President Xi Jinping has said the country must qualify for, host and win a World Cup.
“The draw was made out of our control and there is no good or bad draw,” he said. “What we need to do next is to sit down and prepare plans for the final stage.
“We are facing quite a number of Middle East nations and therefore we would like to invite other teams from the same region for our two international friendlies in June.