Australia were handed an early challenge against fellow heavyweights South Korea at next year's Asian Cup as the hosts got a difficult draw at a lavish ceremony in Sydney today.
The Socceroos, who have never won the Asian Cup and are hosting it for the first time, will open the tournament against Kuwait in Melbourne on January 9, and will also face Oman in Group A.
While both Australia and South Korea, who have reached eight consecutive World Cups, will be confident of reaching the knock-out stages, neither team can afford any slip-ups.
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"It's a challenging group and it will be a tough three games for us, but from our perspective we'll know we'll be well prepared for it," Australia's coach Ange Postecoglou told reporters.
On facing Korea, Postecoglou added:" At some point you have to play a team so our goal is to do well in this tournament. Everyone will be focusing on that and obviously that makes it challenging.
"That first game against Kuwait in Melbourne becomes a real critical one. We need to get off to a really strong start and if we can get those three points that will put pressure on the other teams."
Australia, who joined the Asian confederation in 2006, will hope to use their home advantage to win their maiden Asian Cup after missing out 1-0 in extra time to Japan in the 2011 final in Qatar.
South Korea missed out on one of the top seedings for the draw and were left as dangerous floaters after they temporarily fell outside Asia's leading four teams on the FIFA rankings.
Coach Hong Myung-Bo said his first thoughts were on preparing South Korea for the World Cup in Brazil, starting June, before fully concentrating on the Asian Cup next January.
