AFC - KUALA LUMPUR, Never before has there been so much at stake and particularly in the rivalry between the East and the West. 13th October 2004 could mark the do-or-die day for many of the teams, including traditional powerhouses such as Korea Rep and Japan.

Korea Republic, after the exhilarating semi-final showing at the 2002 FIFA World Cup is now ahead by only one point against second-placed Lebanon and if the latter wins the October 13th game at home, then Korea Rep. face a daunting task to qualify for the next stage. In their first meeting Korea Rep. won by two goals to nil.

Also group 5 will see an East vs. West battle between Korea DPR and United Arab Emirates. Korea DPR so far maintained an unbeaten record and secured eight points from four matches . On the other hand, United Arab Emirates is one point behind. The two teams will play their concluding group matches on 17th November but before that on 13th October DPR will face Yemen and UAE will take on Thailand.

Japan, the 2004 Asian Cup champion will face Oman at Muscat and if the latter wins by 2-0 then Oman will hold the advantage going into the final match of the qualification. China, the runners up in the Asian Cup, have so far won all their matches .They are now three points ahead of their nearest rival Kuwait and appears to be in pole position.

Saudi Arabia is the only team already assured of qualification to the second phase of the championships from group 8.

In the meantime, group 1 sees the battle between IR Iran and Jordan. Both have secured nine points. The third team in the group, Qatar, still has an outside chance as they currently have six points.

In group 6, Bahrain, the semi-finalist at the 2004 Asian Cup is three points ahead of Syria.

Indeed the battle seems to be one of East vs West. ASEAN and South Asian countries appear to have not quite bridge the gap yet. Uzbekistan is the only team from Central Asia who has a good chance to qualify as they head group 2 with ten points, followed by Iraq. If Uzbekistan wins or draws their crucial match against Iraq, they will hold pole position.