Australia to face South Americans

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SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia will host South American heavyweights Argentina and Uruguay in friendly matches in June, to finish off their preparations for this year's Asian Cup.

Australia will play Uruguay at Sydney's Olympic stadium on June 2, in a repeat of their playoff to reach the 2006 World Cup, before facing Argentina at the Melbourne Cricket Ground four days later.

Australia, who will also play a friendly against Denmark in London next week, are considered the early favorites to win the Asian Cup.

"The road to the Asian Cup starts in London next week when the team plays Denmark and will culminate with two very important matches in Australia," Football Federation of Australia chief executive Ben Buckley said in a statement.

The Socceroos are drawn in pool A with Thailand, Oman and Iraq and could reach the semifinals without having to play the region's traditional powers including Japan, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The 16-nation Asian Cup finals will take place in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam from July 7-29.

The FFA also confirmed Sydney and Melbourne would each host two of Australia's qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

There will be four automatic places for Asian teams at the next World Cup, with a fifth team to go into a playoff. Qualifying will be held in 2008 and 2009.

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