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ndonesia will face Iran, Bahrain and Qatar in Group E of the third stage of the 2014 World Cup Asian qualifiers, according to Saturday’s World Cup qualifiying draw in Rio de Janeiro.

Although a Group E draw can’t be considered easy, Indonesia, for the moment, is secure from much tougher opponents such as Japan, South Korea and Australia. Japan and South Korea are in Group C with Uzbekistan and Syria, while Australia in Group D with Saudi Arabia, Oman and Thailand.

“Looking at the history of the three countries, the Iranians will be the group’s favorite as they have reached the first round of the World Cup several times,” soccer observer Setyo Agung Nugroho said as quoted by Antara on Sunday.

Iran participated in the World Cup in 1978, 1998, and 2006. Iran was also the Asian champion in 1968, 1972, and 1976.

Nonetheless, the team, currently handled by coach Carlos Queiroz,has been under-performing. At the Asian Cup in 2007 and 2011, Iran only reached the quarterfinals. Last year, Iran also failed to make it into the World Cup.

Agung, who brought the PSIS Juniors to victory at the 2004 Suratin Cup youth league, said that Indonesia needed to watch out for Qatar’s emerging forces.

Qatar is currently coached by Milovan Rajevac, the former national coach of Ghana, the African quarterfinalist of the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg.

Although Qatar hasn’t been competing in the World Cup, the host of the future 2022 World Cup has so far reached the quarterfinals of this year’s Asian Cup, which was also hosted in Qatar.

In its previous six Asian Cup bids Qatar failed to advance from the first round.

Meanwhile, the strength of Bahrain has yet to be observed, as the team received a bye for its advance to this current stage.

At the 2006 World Cup qualifier, Bahrain lost to Trinidad and Tobago, where Indonesia’s current head coach Wim Rijsbergen used to assist training.

In last year’s World Cup qualifier, Bahrain lost to New Zealand. Under its English coach, Peter Taylor, Bahrain’s best achievement at the Asian Cup so far was in the semifinals in 2004.

As stated in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) official website, there are five groups, each with four competing teams, at the third stage of the Asian qualifiers.

The top two sides from each group advance to the fourth round which will feature two groups of five playing in a round-robin, home and away format.

The winners and runners-up from these groups qualify for Brazil 2014 while the two third-placed teams face each other with the side that emerges victorious meeting a representative from South America in a continental playoff.