The Qantas Socceroos opponents for the third round of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were revealed today at the draw of the preliminary qualifying stage in Durban, South Africa.

China, Iraq and Qatar will be Australia's opponents in the third round of Asian Football Confederation qualifying after the Qantas Socceroos were seeded directly into this stage of the qualifying process.

Also seeded alongside Australia were South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

This phase of qualifying will see the Qantas Socceroos play their opponents home and away with the top-two placed teams progressing to the fourth and final round where four teams will gain direct entry to the 2010 FIFA World Cup while a fifth team will play off against the top Oceania team for the final place in South Africa.

The fixture will be distributed once confirmed by the Asian Football Confederation.

QANTAS SOCCEROOS WORLD CUP QUALIFYING OPPONENTS - ROUND THREE OF QUALIFYING

CHINA
FIFA World Ranking: 85
Australia record against China: P7: W5-D0-L2

Previous results

06-08-75 W 1-0 Friendly Melbourne
29-10-76 W 2-0 Friendly Canton, China
04-12-83 L 1-2 Merlion Cup Singapore, Singapore
03-11-84 L 2-3 Ampol Cup Beijing, China
27-09-85 W 3-0 Ampol Cup Brisbane
23-11-86 W 2-0 Ampol Cup Canton, China
24-03-07 W 2-0 Friendly Guangzhou, China

Last Time

Australia played China in March this year in Guangzhou with Brett Holman and Mark Bresciano scoring first half goals in a 2-0 win.

IRAQ
FIFA World Ranking: 70
Australia record against Iraq: P4: W2-D1-L1

Previous results

11-03-73 W 3-1 World Cup qualifying Sydney
18-03-73 D 0-0 World Cup qualifying Melbourne
26-03-05 W 2-1 Friendly Sydney
13-07-07 L 1-3 Asian Cup Bangkok, Thailand

Last Time
Australia and Iraq met in Bangkok during the group stage of this year's AFC Asian Cup with Iraq recording a 3-1 win on the way to winning the tournament.

QATAR
FIFA World Ranking: 86
Australia record against Qatar: P0: W0-D0-L0

Previous results

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