Exciting penultimate round action last Saturday saw seven more teams booking their tickets for the next phase but qualification from Groups 1 and 5 is still poised on knife-edge and expected to be settled in the UAE on June 22 with two thrilling matches – Iraq versus Qatar and UAE versus Syria.

A simple draw for resurgent Iraq against Qatar at the Al Ahli Stadium in Dubai will be enough for the Asian champions to advance from Group 1 while Syria need to beat hosts UAE at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain by a 3-0 margin in Group 5.

Iraq hauled themselves firmly into the reckoning with a 2-1 win over China in Tianjin while Qatar were drubbed 3-1 by Australia, who booked their spot from the group.

Group 5 saw Iran advancing with an impressive 2-0 win over Syria while UAE scraped past Kuwait 3-2 to keep their hopes alive.

Though only a point separates Adnan Hamad’s Asian Cup winners from a historic place in the last ten they would be no doubt itching to avenge their 2-0 defeat to Qatar in the first round.

The UAE, meanwhile, would be more than happy to emulate their opening performance against the Syrians which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

History favours Bruno Metsu’s men who have never lost to Syria at home, winning and drawing three encounters each since 1979.

The Iraqis, resigned to playing away from home since the 1980s, won four matches they contested against Qatar and drew one from 1975 to 1979 in Baghdad, and the ’Lions of Mespotamia’ have remarkably kept up the winning momentum with four victories in as many matches played on neutral soil so far against their West Asian rivals.

The teams which have qualified with a round to spare are Australia (Group 1), Bahrain and Japan (Group 2), Korea Republic and DPR Korea (Group 3), Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia (Group 4) and Iran (Group 5).

The draw for the final stage takes place on Friday, June 27, 2008, at AFC House.