Korea to face Jordan in Asian qualification for London Olympics football

Korea will face Jordan in the second round of the Asian football qualifications for the 2012 London Olympics.

The draw for the continental qualifiers was held Wednesday at Kuala Lumpur, home of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

South Korea was the top seed among 13 nations that had byes into the second round, based on their performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. South Korea, Australia and Japan were the Asian qualifiers for Beijing, but none made it out of the first round of that Olympic tournament. South Korea was the only one of the three to have a win.

At their previous meeting at the under-23 level, South Korea routed Jordan 4-0 at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

"We always feel pressure facing a Middle East team," said Hong Myung-bo, head coach for South Korea's Olympic team, through a statement from the Korea Football Association (KFA). "But we did play and beat (Jordan) at last year's Asian Games. We're going to prepare hard for the next round and try to qualify for the Olympic Games."

Those 13 are joined by 11 teams which won their first-round matches. Kuwait, Thailand, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Malaysia, Yemen, Hong Kong, Jordan, India and Turkmenistan had to get through the first round. Besides South Korea, Australia, China, Japan, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Syria, Lebanon, Uzbekistan and Vietnam received direct entry into the second round.

The other second-round matchups are Qatar vs. India, Iraq vs. Iran, Bahrain vs. Thailand, Australia vs. Yemen, Japan vs. Kuwait, Syria vs. Turkmenistan, North Korea vs. United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan vs. Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia vs. Vietnam, China vs. Oman and Lebanon vs. Malaysia.

Winners are determined on aggregate scores after two games, with one home game for each country. Matches are set for June 19 and 23.

Then the 12 winners of the second round will be paired into three groups of four in the third round. Only the top-ranked countries from the three groups will secure automatic berths to the London Games, while the winner of a three-way playoff among No. 2 seeds will enter an international playoff for a final chance to qualify.

Only players under the age of 23 are eligible for Olympics, but countries can pick up to three players over the age limit, also called "wild cards."

South Korea has never won a football medal at an Olympic Games. It has made it out of the first round only twice in eight appearances. (Yonhap)