Cambodia will face off against the highest-ranked team in Asia, after the draw for the second round of the 2022 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers and 2023 AFC Cup Joint-Qualifiers was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday.
Drawn in a tough Group C, the Angkor Warriors will face Iran, 20th in the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings, along with Iraq, Bahrain and Hong Kong.
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Cambodia, led by Japanese general manager Keisuke Honda and head coach Felix Dalmas, qualified for Round 2 by overcoming Pakistan 4-1 on aggregate last month in the previous round but their world ranking of 169 only saw them into pot five in the draw.
They will now play each team in the group home and away, with the matches running from September 5 to June 9 next year.
The eight group winners and four best runners-up will go through to the final round of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and also automatically qualify for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals in China.
The next best 24 teams from the second round of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining 12 slots in the 24-team Asian Cup in 2023.
