KARACHI, Sept 9: Pakistan face their away World Cup soccer qualifier against Iraq in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Oct 28 as matches could not be held in the war-ravaged Middle Eastern nation.

According to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), the Asian Football Confederation had asked Iraq to choose a neutral venue because of political turmoil in Iraq.

Iraq had also played their home match of the 14th Asian Cup qualifiers last year against China, Singapore and Palestine in the UAE. In 2004, Jordan and Qatar arranged their World Cup qualifiers against Uzbekistan, Palestine and Taiwan.

Pakistan are expected to play their home match against Iraq in Lahore on Oct 8, the PFF said.

The two sides faced each other in 1969 when Pakistan won 2-1 in Tehran’s Friendship Cup. Iraq won six matches against Pakistan from 1986 to 1997 with four victories in World Cup qualifiers, one win in the Jordan Cup and the Asian Games.

While Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran have been given byes into the third round, Pakistan have been seeded 35. Iraq, who became Asian champions last July with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia, are the 12th seed.

The first and second round will be played from Oct 8 to Nov 18, while the draw for the third round will take place in Durban, South Africa on Nov 25 in which 20 teams will be split into five groups of four with the top two from each group advancing to the Asian final round.

Draw:

First round: Yemen v Maldives (A), Palestine v Singapore (B), Bangladesh v Tajikistan (C), Cambodia v Turkmenistan (D), Mongolia v North Korea (E), Lebanon v India (F), Oman v Nepal (G), Guam v Indonesia (H).

Second round: Pakistan v Iraq, Uzbekistan v Taiwan, Thailand v Macau, Sri Lanka v Qatar, China v Myanmar, Bhutan v Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan v Jordan, Vietnam v UAE, Bahrain v Malaysia, East Timor v Hong Kong, Syria v Afghanistan, Winner A v Winner B, Winner C v Winner D, Winner E v Winner F, Winner G v Winner H.