The draw for the final round of qualifying takes places in Kuala Lumpur today, with four direct spots to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa at stake for the 10 teams in fray.

The 10 teams – Australia, Qatar, Japan, Bahrain, North Korea, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Iran and the UAE – will be divided into two groups, with the top two in each pool booking their ticket to South Africa.

The two third-placed sides will play each other on a home and away basis, and the winner will battle with the Oceania representative for another spot in the finals.

Australia, in their first World Cup qualifying campaign as an Asian team, are the top seeds for the final round, while South Korea are the second seeds. So they will head each of the group.

Jumaa admitted Australia and South Korea are two of the toughest sides in the draw and the UAE will find one of them in their group – but he hoped they could avoid Uzbekistan and Japan.

"Australia are the top seeds and one of the best sides in the 10," said the Al Wahda player.

"They have some big stars like Brett Emerton, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Schwarzer. Emerton, especially, has been a major threat [in the group qualifying] with his penetration on the right and his pinpoint crosses.

"But their loss to Iraq here in Dubai and at home against China in the last game has shown they are beatable. The loss to China, especially, has shown that Australia struggle without their overseas stars.

"South Korea have the best World Cup record among Asian teams. They have reached the World Cup finals for six consecutive times now and they came through the group stages unbeaten.

"They looked great at the 2007 Asian Cup till they were knocked out by Iraq on penalties in the semis. They have got plenty of good players like Park Ji-Sung, Lee Young-Pyo, Lee Dong-Gook and their experience of playing at the biggest stage on so many occasions makes them formidable.

"So, there is little to choose between Australia and South Korea, and we will find one of them in our group. But, while we respect them, we do not fear them. We do fancy our chances, especially at home.

"It will be great though if we can avoid Uzbekistan and Japan – these two are the toughest teams in the final round after Australia and South Korea. We have not played them much either."

Uzbekistan have reached the last-eight of the last two Asian Cups and finished third in the final round of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, behind Saudi Arabia and South Korea. In the play-off, they lost to Bahrain. Japan were dethroned in the Asian Cup last year, after they lost to Saudi Arabia in the semis. However, they are one of the major forces in Asian football and have reached the last three World Cup finals.

"Uzbekistan are a very physically strong side," said Jumaa. "They are an Asian side playing in the robust European style. They have been in great form in qualifying and were the first team to reach the last-10 after winning their first four games.

"They have also scored the most number of goals in the group qualifiers [15]. In Maksim Shatskikh [who plays for Dynamo Kiev] and Alexander Geynrikh, they probably have two of the best strikers in Asia.

"Japan are always a strong side. They have top quality players in Shunsuke Nakamura, Naohiro Takahara and Keita Suzuki. They have a good mix of experience and youth, and they play a very fluid game. In the Asian Cup, I think they probably had the most creative midfield and were really dominant.

"So, if we can avoid these two teams, it would be a great bonus for us. We don’t mind playing Iran again. I know we lost to them at home, but we came very close to beating them in Tehran.

"The ideal draw for us would be a clutch of Gulf sides [Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia] in our group. We are all on the same level and you cannot predict the outcome of games between us. The team playing better on the day win. So, I hope we will get a favourable draw.

"Having said that, we have to be ready to face any side. There will be no easy games and no easy sides. We will have to beat the top sides to reach South Africa. We have to make sure we win the home games.

"We lost to Iran and Syria in Al Ain [in the group stages] and we just cannot afford that in the final round.

"If we can win all the games at home and give our best on the road, we will have a great chance."