NEW DELHI: India will play Lebanon in the first round of the Asian qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup football in South Africa.

Though India leads 1-0 in the head-to-head meetings, what makes it difficult for the Bob Houghton-coached side is that it will play its first match away in the trouble-torn Lebanon on October 8.

India will host Lebanon for the return leg of the tie on October 28.

Strife in a few cities of Lebanon had forced Asian athletics championship in the last week of July to be shifted out to Amman, Jordan.

The draw of the first and second rounds of the Asian qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was held in Kuala Lumpur on Monday and it threw up a number of intriguing encounters.

Going by the current FIFA World Rankings, Lebanon is ahead of India at 135. India, ranked 162, will have to get past Lebanon in the first round to have any realistic chance of making it to the next round.

India, which has been seeded 28th in the AFC ranking, will play either Mongolia or North Korea, if it makes it to the second round. Asian champion Iraq has been slotted against Pakistan and will play the first leg away.

The top five – Australia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran – get a bye into the third round.

From the 19 teams that clear the first round, the lowest eight based on ranking move on to the second round and the other 11 to round three.

The first-round pairings: Pakistan v Iraq, Uzbekistan v Chinese Taipei, Thailand v Macau, Sri Lanka v Qatar, China v Myanmar, Bhutan v Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan v Jordan, Vietnam v United Arab Emirates, Bahrain v Malaysia, Timor Leste v Hong Kong, Syria v Afghanistan, Yemen v Maldives, Bangladesh v Tajikistan, Mongolia v North Korea, Oman v Nepal, Palestine v Singapore, Lebanon v India, Cambodia v Turkmenistan, Guam v Indonesia. — Principal Correspondent