Asain 2010 World Cup Qualifying final group draw

The two groups have been drawn for Asia's final round of World Cup Qualification. Each group has five teams with the top two from each group advancing to South Africa. The third place teams in the groups will meet in a two-legged playoff with the winner playing the champion of Oceania.

Here are the two groups:
Group A
Australia
Japan
Bahrain
Uzbekistan
Qatar

Group B
South Korea
Iran
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
UAE

Although both groups have their difficulties, it looks to me like Group B is the tougher one since three of the teams made it to Germany in 2006 (S Korea, Iran & Saudi Arabia), plus North Korea is always capable of a surprise.

Group A seems designed perfectly for Australia and Japan to make it through.

Group play starts on 6 Sept and runs through 17 June 2009.

FIFA - Even though Qatar cheated, they still get to advance

FIFA has denied Iraq's appeal to disqualify Qatar from World Cup Qualifying even though it admits Qatar did not play by the rules.

This Sunday saw Qatar beat Iraq 1-0 to advance to the final round of Asian WCQ, however one of their players was not eligible to play for Qatar.

Marcio Passos De Albuquerque, know as Emerson, was born in Brazil and represented Brazil at youth level, thus he was ineligible. In addition, he 'was also reported to have been detained by Brazilian police back in 2006 for falsifying his age on his birth certificate.'

FIFA's response: 'The player is not eligible to play for Qatar and cannot play any further matches for the representative team of Qatar.'

The loss to Qatar resulted in Iraq placing third in their group, thus missing the final round by just one point. Emerson did not play in this match, however he did play in the earlier game on 6 Feb, which Qatar won 2-0. This was the only group match in which Emerson played.

FIFA says that Iraq waited to long to file their complaint.

It seems to me that if FIFA knew that an illegal player was used in a match, the team should be forced to forfeit the game, even if their FA didn't know the player was ineligible. A team should not be able to prosper from illegal activities in the past.

LA Galaxy - Beckham is not for sale; we're touring Asia

Alexi Lalas again had to state the obvious today as he told Sky Sports News that Beckham, "...wouldn't be put out on loan to another club - that is not an option - and David is not for sale at any price."

Although Lalas words might not be enough to convince many that Beckham is indeed still the center of the Galaxy's universe, the team also announced today that they will tour Asia this March as part of their pre-season. No dates or locations were specified, however Galaxy spokesman Patrick Donnelly said that Korea is 'on the potential list of countries.' In total, the team will play three matches.

This tour is exactly why LA and MLS went after Beckham and why they will not let him go. MLS teams have gone to Asia before, but their impact has been limited. However, due in large part to Beckham, the league has sold thousands of jerseys, got their matches aired live in the region and worked out a Pan-Pacific Championship series in the last year. No other active player could have accomplished so much in such a short time.

I'm sure that MLS could get a huge transfer fee for Beckham's services (especially with the dollar being so weak), but no amount of money can do for them what Beckham has already and continues to do.