Kuala Lumpur: World Cup finalists and Asian newcomers Australia have been placed among the bottom rung of countries for next month’s Asian Cup qualification draw.

Australia, who officially join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on January 1, 2006, have been placed in Pot D alongside Palestine, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

The 2007 Asian Cup is to be hosted jointly by Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Australia are ranked 49th in the world and fifth among Asian teams. But that didn’t help them sneak into Pot A, which will contain World Cup finalists Japan and Iran, plus China, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Jordan.

Pot B features two more World Cup qualifiers ? South Korea and Saudi Arabia ? along with Iraq, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar. Pot C, will contain UAE, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Singapore and Hong Kong. One country from each pot will be drawn on January 4 into six groups. (Reuters)