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Socceroos draw Indonesia

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3 July 2008 | 20:16 - SBS

Socceroos Brett Emerton (L) and Brett Holman (R) celebrate Emerton's goal against Qatar (Getty)

The Socceroos have been drawn with neighbouring Indonesia in the qualifying rounds of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

Australia will also play Oman and Kuwait in Group B of the preliminary phase for the tournament that will take place in Qatar.

The top two teams in each of the five qualifying groups will play in the 16-team finals.

They will be joined by 2007 winners Iraq, beaten finalists Saudi Arabia, third placed Korea Republic, hosts Qatar and the AFC Challenge Cup winners of 2008 and 2010.

Japan and Bahrain are set to renew acquaintances for the third consecutive qualifying campaign after the draw placed both sides in Group A.

Japan, the top seeds, and Bahrain, who were seeded 10th, were grouped together in the third round of qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, where both sides won 1-0 at home on route to finishing first and second respectively in Group 2 to advance to the next stage of the competition.

The two sides, who also clashed in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, were then given another opportunity to renew their rivalry when they were pooled in Group A of the final leg of Asian qualifiers for South Africa 2010 following the official draw at AFC House at the weekend before their paths were destined to cross yet again on the road to the 2011 Asian Cup.

Regardless of how they may feel about having to play each other eight times over three qualification tournaments both Takeshi Okada, head coach of the three-time continental champions, and Bahrain’s Milan Macala will be overall pleased with the draw.

The other teams in Group A are Yemen, the first team plucked out of the pots, and inaugural AFC Asian Cup hosts Hong Kong, who were seeded 15th of the 20 teams in the mix.

Uzbekistan, who will face Australia in the final qualifying round for the World Cup, are in Group C with UAE, Malaysia and India.

Qualification takes place from January 14 next year to March 3, 2010.

The AFC will release the schedule of matches shortly.

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