The long road to the Asian Cup finals gets under way tomorrow with defending champions Japan plotting to crush India and 2004 runner-up China aiming for an equally convincing rout of the Palestinians.

Asia's five World Cup-bound teams are all in action with South Korea travelling to Syria, Iran at home against Chinese Taipei and Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

World Cup debutant Australia, playing in its first Asian Cup campaign after joining the Asian Football Confederation in January, faces a tricky assignment in Bahrain, who shocked everyone by making the semi-finals in 2004.

The ultimate goal of the 24 teams playing tomorrow is the finals in July next year jointly hosted by Thailand, Viet Nam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

"This team is strong enough to beat any team," warned Japan coach Zico, who is using the qualifiers as vital preparation for the World Cup in June.

None of Japan's European-based stars, including Bolton midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata and Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura, are available, with the team made up of J-League players.

South Korea, under Dick Advocaat, go into their match against Syria buoyed by a 1-0 win over World Cup qualifiers Mexico and with plenty of match practice after a nine-game overseas tour.

But they will have their work cut out against a side that ground out a 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia last week in Jeddah. The Koreans will be without Manchester United star Park Ji-sung and Lee Young-Pyo of Tottenham.

"This will be the most important match during our tour," South Korean assistant coach Pim Verbeek said of the overseas trip that began on January 5.

Advocaat, who left the US tour early owing to the death of his mother-in-law, will rejoin the team in London en route to Syria.

The Saudis, who failed miserably in the 2004 finals, will have to lift their game after three draws and a loss in their last four outings, against Greece, Sweden, Finland and Lebanon.

China, who fell to arch rival Japan 3-1 in a bad-tempered final in Beijing in 2004, should have an easier task in Guangzhou against the Palestinian squad.

But they are struggling for form and lost at home to Honduras last week.

"We are not in our best form," admitted coach Zhu Guanghu. "We need to improve at set pieces and position sense."

Li Tie of Everton, Sun Jihai of Manchester City and Antwerp's Dong Fangzhuo are all expected to play although they will be without Zheng Zhi and Zhu Ting who are suspended.

It is new territory for Australia, who will play their first match as an Asian nation without Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Mark Schwarzer because of club commitments to the Champions League and UEFA Cup.

They go to Manama with a relatively inexperienced squad but see it as a chance for the newcomers to shine.

Assistant coach Johan Neeskens said with all players vying for a spot in the World Cup team, the absent internationals should be feeling uneasy.

"They should, because not one player should feel he is 100 percent sure he is in the squad," said Neeskens, leading the team in the absence of Guus Hiddink, who is also unavailable due to commitments to PSV Eindhoven.

"A lot of people overseas don't expect much from this team because all the big stars cannot come because of other commitments, but I think for the players here it is an opportunity and I believe in it."

Elsewhere, Singapore takes on Iraq, Jordan plays Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates challenge Oman and Lebanon pit their wits against Kuwait.

Uzbekistan against Bangladesh and Hong Kong versus Qatar round out the matches.

The teams are divided into six groups of four with the top two from each group progressing to the finals.

Other qualifying rounds will be held on March 1, August 16, September 6, October 11 and November 15.

(China Daily?February 21, 2006)