The 2014 World Cup Qualifying Draw Recap - Asia

Asia has always been one of the most interesting regions during the World Cup qualifying cycle. South Korea and Japan are both regulars at the World Cup and with Australia's emergence from their Oceanic shadow, three of five spots are taken before the qualification process even begins. With one more automatic qualification spot up for grabs and one playoff spot left against the fifth place team from South America the competition will be fierce for a ticket to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Let's dive a little bit deeper into the groups and what we think will transpire.

Asia

Third Round

The first two rounds of qualifying for the Asian region have already occurred as footballing powers Nepal, Yemen and Bangladesh were all eliminated. Also, it is worth noting that India were eliminated and one could only imagine what would happen when that country gets their soccer program going.

Regardless, the remaining twenty Asian countries are placed in five groups of four with the top two teams in each group advancing to the final stage of qualification. From then, you guessed it, more groups as the final ten teams are placed in two groups of five. The top two teams from each group qualify for the World Cup while the third-place teams play in a playoff to determine the team that will face the fifth place team from South America. Yes, it does sound complicated, but really it is pretty straightforward. So let's take a look at the groups and make some fearless predictions.

Group A

China

Jordan

Iraq

Singapore

Group B

South Korea
Kuwait

UAE

Lebanon

Group C

Japan

Uzbekistan

Syria

North Korea

Group D

Australia

Saudi Arabia

Oman

Thailand

Group E

Iran

Qatar

Bahrain

Indonesia

Group of Death - Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand (Group D)

Group of Weakness - China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore (Group A)

Game I Would Love to Attend - Australia - Saudi Arabia

Game I Even Know Nothing About - Singapore - Jordan

Minnow That Could Surprise - Qazil . . . oh I meant Qatar (with localized Brazilians)

Fearless Predictions for the Fourth Round

China

Iraq

South Korea

UAE

Japan

North Korea

Australia

Saudi Arabia

Iran

Qatar

The remaining ten teams will be in for quite a dog fight and as mentioned above you could pencil in South Korea, Japan and Australia for the World Cup. The next question is whether Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Iran will join them or if a smaller nation like the UAE, Qatar or North Korea could surprise.