The draw for the final round of AFC qualifying for the 2010 World Cup has been made, with third round rivals Australia and Qatar pitted against each other once again.

Ten teams were drawn in to two groups of five, with Group A consisting of Australia, Japan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Qatar.

Group B is made up of South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates, with the top two teams from each group progressing straight to the South Africa World Cup.

The third placed teams in each group will play off for the right to take on the winner of the Oceania Confederation for a final place at Fifa's 2010 showpiece.

The Socceroos, coached by Pim Verbeek, were seeded one due to their Fifa ranking, and were always going to avoid the second-seeded South Korea, who have qualified for every World Cup finals since Mexico in 1986.

However three-time World Cup qualifiers Japan will be a tough obstacle for Australia, who made the knockout rounds at the last World Cup in Germany before narrowly losing to eventual winners Italy.

"We look forward to a great match against Japan at home, it should be a blockbuster," John Boultbee, Football Federation of Australia (FFA) Head of National Teams and Development, said.

"Yes, it is hard in a way but it provides excellent competition, it won't be easy. Japan is very strong, Uzbekistan has a good team and Qatar and Bahrain are capable of anything.

"We are happy we are not playing the Koreas and Iran. Group B is very tough."

Tough draw

Takeshi Ono, technical director of the Japan Football Association, admitted his team had a tricky draw, but was confident of finishing in the top two.

"It will certainly be tough, all four teams are very strong," Ono said.

"The travelling will be hard for our European-based players but it will be okay.

"Of course we have confidence that we will qualify."

In Group B, South Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia all qualified for the last World Cup finals but at least one of them is either going to miss out this time or have go through the third-place play-off match.

The two Koreas have also been drawn together again after playing each other in the third round.

The first matches of Asia's final round of qualifying take place on September 6 later this year, with the last match scheduled for June 17, 2009.