Rows over venues and anthems overshadow Wednesday's crunch Asian World Cup qualifiers, when China host Australia and North and South Korea square off for a rare Cold War clash in Shanghai. China's decision to play at altitude has irked Australia, while the two Koreas were forced onto neutral ground after the North said the South couldn't use their national flag or anthem in Pyongyang.
Heavyweights Japan travel to Bahrain and Asian champions Iraq are in Qatar in other highlights of the second set of matches. Two teams from each of five groups qualify for the fourth and final round of Asian qualifying.
Australia coach Pim Verbeek heads to Kunming in southern China, hoping the thin air 1,900 metres (6,200 feet) above sea level won't deflate his winning start last month.
Great things are expected of Verbeek's entirely European-based team, despite last year's Asian Cup flop, after Australia reached the World Cup second round in 2006. "Probably we will have the better players, so the only way (for China) to beat us is to make it as difficult as possible - and that's why they play in Kunming and not in Beijing or Shanghai," he complained earlier.
Australia have been hit by injuries to star midfielder Tim Cahill, Mile Sterjovski, Brett Emerton and striker Joshua Kennedy, but Liverpool's Harry Kewell played 45 minutes of Saturday's 0-0 run-out against Singapore.