The Confederations Cup is sure to give South Africa the opportunity to ensure that their infrastructure will be ready for the 2010 World Cup. In the meantime a number of countries have grabbed the opportunity to guarantee that they will be present when the football action starts for real.

This means that the national coaches can turn their thoughts to the big event and start preparing their squads for the demands of this international affair. The South American qualifiers may be far from settled, but the Asian qualifiers have had three countries book their place for the world’s most important sporting event.

The first team to guarantee their place was Japan, by virtue of a one goal victory over Uzbekistan. They were swiftly followed by their Group A rivals Australia who managed to avoid defeat against Qatar, with their 0-0 score securing a place in the top two.

Both nations still had two games in Group A after their qualification was ensured, which emphasizes their domination over the rest of the teams in their section.

Australia and Japan play in the final game of Group A which will be a fixture without any great meaning for the two teams on June 17th. As for the other sides squaring up on that date, it will be a winner-takes-all situation.

With Australia and Japan securing the two automatic qualification spots for the group all that is left in Group A is to find out who will claim the play-off spot.

Bahrain currently holds the upper hand by sitting in that playoff spot with 7 points, and a three point advantage over their rivals Uzbekistan. With Bahrain being at home, they will start strong favorites to take the play off spot. The away team will know that if they can win, they will surpass Bahrain and give themselves one final opportunity to make it through to South Africa.

Whoever emerges from the final match on top will face the team in third position in Group B, which has also seen one team qualify for next year’s event.

South Korea managed to ensure that they will finish in the qualification spots with a 2-0 away win at the United Arab Emirates, leaving three nations left to battle it out for the final automatic spot and the play-off place.

North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran all have a strong chance of clinching second spot in the group with just one point separating all three teams.

The main match is between North Korea and Saudi Arabia where a win for either side will be enough to put them into second spot.

North Korea are the team in second place by virtue of goal difference but Saudi Arabia will have home advantage which may be enough to see them in South Africa with all the other great nations.

Iran also has the opportunity to clinch an automatic spot if they defeat South Korea, who has already qualified. The other match ended in a draw, which was not an unforeseen outcome.

If there is a winner in the North Korea and Saudi Arabian match, Iran can clinch a play-off by winning their match or even by drawing if the goal difference is turned in their favor.

The two third placed teams will enter into a play-off to decide the fifth best placed team in Asia where they will face New Zealand, the Oceania group winners in October and November, to see who takes the final spot up for grabs.