… Uzbekistan, Bahrain go head-to-head for playoff spot
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) – World Cup qualifying reaches a critical finale this week in Asia, with North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran prepared for a thrilling dogfight for the last remaining automatic place at South Africa 2010.

One point splits the three teams and victory for either North Korea or Saudi Arabia, who meet in Riyadh tomorrow in a decisive final qualifier, will seal the second Group Two spot in South Africa.

Iran are away to already-qualified South Korea and trail the other contenders by a point after reviving their campaign in the last two matches. A win in Seoul and a draw between the Saudis and North Koreans will see Iran through.

New coach Afshin Ghotbi wants to avoid third place and an arduous playoffs campaign and has made a vow to the soccer-crazed Iranian people that he will steer the team to the finals.

“I promise you that you will see us in South Africa,” Ghotbi told reporters.

“I congratulate the people of Iran for their support. The World Cup is for all the people and their support motivated us.”

The Saudis will be guaranteed fervent home support in Riyadh but will be without two regulars, Abdoh Ateef and his brother Ahmed Ateef, who are sidelined through injury and suspension respectively.

The two automatic places in Group One have already been snapped up, leaving Uzbekistan and Bahrain to slug it out for the playoff place.

FIERCE SHOWDOWN
The two sides have a fierce rivalry having met in an acrimonious Asian playoff final for the 2006 finals, which had to be replayed because of poor refereeing.

Bahrain won that battle and must avoid a sizeable home defeat by the Uzbeks, which have no shortage of firepower having scored a staggering 26 goals in their first eight qualifiers prior to the final round.

Bahrain have seven points and Uzbekistan four. Both teams have scored five goals but Bahrain have conceded one less, meaning the visitors must win by two clear goals to seal the playoff place.

Bahrain’s soccer federation has waived attendance fees in a bid to pack Manama’s national stadium and their Czech coach Milan Macala is expecting a bitter battle to keep alive hopes of reaching the finals for the first time.

“This is a very serious situation for us and even though we have the advantage of needing just a point, our players should fight for the full three points and nothing else,” he said.

The two third-placed Asian teams will compete over two legs in a playoff, with the winner facing Oceania champions New Zealand in an inter-confederation showdown for a spot at the 32-team finals.

Already-qualified Japan and Australia meet in Melbourne and although the match is a dead rubber, Japan (15 points) are in the hunt for a flood of goals to win the group and muddy the Socceroos’ (17 points) impressive seven-match clean sheet.

“It gives us extra incentive to break that record,” Japan coach Takeshi Okada told reporters. “We’ve come here to win, so we need to score goals.”