Doha: Asia's top-ranked team Australia come up against a tenacious Bahrain side today in a crucial Group C encounter which decides which of the two teams progress to the quarters.
Australia (four points) are just a point ahead of Bahrain while in the other match of this group, South Korea with four points take on lowly India who have no points. South Korea is expected to win that match which makes the Australia-Bahrain match a thrilling prospect.
Australia only need a draw while Bahrain, who have lost all four of their previous encounters, will be looking to win and advance into the last eight.
"We are in a position where our fate is in our own hands. We are in a good position in that if we perform well we can qualify," Holger Osieck, Australia's German coach, said.
After coming from behind to hold South Korea to a 1-1 draw, Osieck said the scrappy game had taken its toll. "We had bumps and bruises in that game and had to replace some players who had been working round the clock. But it is still very likely that everybody will be ready for this game," he said.
Ageing stars
With most of his players coming from leagues in Europe and other areas, Osieck has not had enough time to mould them into a cohesive unit. Against the Koreans, the pace of some of his ageing stars did create some problems, but the German backs his team to advance to the next round.
"We want to play our own game and our own style of football and get into a rhythm as soon as possible," he said adding that his team was not thinking of a draw.
With only hosts Qatar having qualified, Bahrain will not only be playing to keep the regional flag flying but also to erase memories of two failures in successive World Cup qualifiers.
"A draw is the business of the Australian team and not ours," Salman Shareeda, the Bahraini coach, said. "We have had injuries, but the players I have at my disposal are enough to do the job."
