John Aloisi, Australia (Striker):
"This is the beauty of being in Asia. We are going to play tough games and if we do qualify, which we have to be confident of doing, then we will be better prepared for the World Cup."

Robert Baan, Australia (Technical Director):
"It's one of the toughest groupings. At least we can prepare in advance, as we know the teams well. We cannot underestimate any team. Iraq is one of the tough ones as they can organise themselves way ahead. We hope we will have a coach when we start the campaign in February. One of our problems will be the availability of our players that play abroad in Europe."

Vladimir Petrovic, China (Coach):
"Obviously we have been given tough qualifying assignments but it doesn't mean that we don't have any hope. In a group that features Australia, Iraq and Qatar, we must always keep alert and can't afford any slips. It is a long campaign and the top priority is that we don't drop points. Even if we fail to win, we must avoid losing a game at least."

Wei Shaohui, China PR (General Manager):
"While it is on every tongue that we have been drawn in the toughest group of all, I would say it is not that bad a thing. The team can only improve by playing competitive games against tough opposition, so we will regard this as an opportunity to gain experiences and make progress. Next we must focus 100 per cent on our preparations for the qualifying games next year. Iraq and Qatar are no strangers to us as we have played against them on more than one occasion. We are going to have a training camp in Europe where we will play warm-up matches against English Premiership clubs and I hope this will help prepare the team for our games against Australia."

Mustafa Karim, Iraq (Player);
"This is the toughest group in the qualifiers. It includes the best team from each level. China and Qatar are certainly first-class opponents and Australia are one of the best teams in the world. I think we are technically better than China. It was difficult to lose to Australia in the Olympic qualifiers and we are very eager to confront them again. We don't lack potential and we sent a clear message to the world when we won the AFC Cup last summer. We are still the champions of Asia."

Jorge Fossati, Qatar (Coach);
"It is a very difficult group. There are strong rivals in this group, I think it is a group of death. We will work with humility and humbleness and try our best to be in the second round."