TOKYO (AP) — Japan faces a challenging qualifying path to the 2014 World Cup finals against rivals who will be looking to upset the Asian champions.

Alberto Zaccheroni's team was drawn Saturday with Uzbekistan, Syria and North Korea in Group C of the third round of Asian qualifying. Japan will be bidding for its fifth straight appearance in the World Cup finals.

"As we are Asian champions, I am sure our opponents will come prepared," Zaccheroni said Sunday. "This will be my first experience of World Cup qualifying. I am always eager for new challenges and am looking forward to this first experience."

Japan has played in every World Cup since France '98. and reached the second round at last summer's tournament in South Africa under Takeshi Okada.

Japan, which has yet to lose in the 10 games Zaccheroni has been in charge, is the highest ranked team of the four in the group at 16th. North Korea is ranked 115th, Uzbekistan, which reached the semifinals of this year's Asian Cup, is 83rd in the rankings while Syria is 104th.

"This is the third round of qualifying so there are no easy groups and no easy opponents," said Zaccheroni.

The top two teams in each of the five Asian qualifying groups will advance to the fourth round of qualifying.

The 10 teams in the fourth round will be divided into two groups of five with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the 2014 finals in Brazil.

Japan will tune up for the World Cup qualifiers with a friendly against South Korea on Aug. 10 in Sapporo.

Japan won its fourth Asian Cup in January in Qatar by beating Australia 1-0 after extra time.

source: Philstar