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Crunch time for Iran

AFP, Singapore
Saudi Arabia and Iran face crunch matches Wednesday as they scramble to book Asia's last automatic place at the World Cup finals, while the race intensifies for the play-off slots. Australia, Japan and South Korea qualified for South Africa over the weekend and can afford to relax, heaping pressure on the chasing pack.
Saudi Arabia are in the driving seat in Group B, but need to pick up points against South Korea in Seoul before what is shaping up as a do-or-die match at home to North Korea next week.
The Saudis are on 10 points from six games. North Korea, who do not play Wednesday, have 11 points but onlyhaveonegame left.
Iran have seven points and know they must win their final two matches to stand a chance of qualifying. They should beat United Arab Emirates at home on Wednesday but then have a difficult trip to South Korea a week later.
Iranian coach Afshin Ghotbi admits they face an uphill battle and knows how important it is to get a result on Wednesday.
"We must win so we can at least give ourselves a chance in Seoul to go (to) the World Cup," he said.
The Saudis wanned up for their match with South Korea by thrashing China 4-1 and coach
Jose Peseiro hopes they can produce the same sort of form on Wednesday.
"Our main goal is beating South Korea. We scored so many goals against China, I hope we still have enough good luck in next game and beat them," he told reporters.
With Australia and Japan already claiming the top two places in Group A, the race is on to finish third and book a spot in the play-off against the third-placed team from Group B.
Whoever wins that match will then take on New Zealand over two legs, with the victor securing a place in Sou th Africa.
Bahrain, on seven points, are favourites to progress and will do so if they beat Australia in Sydney.
Qatar have five points and Uzbekistan have four but they have both played a game more.
Bahraini coach Milan Macala said he was confident after a comfortable 4 -0 warm - up win over Jordan.
"We deserved the victory and this sends a clear message that our players have the ability to win the next two matches," he told reporters.
Australia coach Pim Verbeek insists he will not be doing Bahrain any favours, wanting to see the Socceroos' unbeaten run in qualifying continue.
Qatar's chances of ending third are slim but their French coach Bruno Metsu said holding Australia to a 0-0 draw over the weekend gave the team a boost ahead of their tough task against Japan.