The 2010 World Cup draw is China's worst ever, the team's manager said yesterday after they were pitted against Australia, Iraq and Qatar in the Asian "group of death."

"Indeed, the result of the grouping was the worst in the history of the China team. Today's draw was a big shock and upset for our soccer sector," manager Wei Shaohui said.

Another unnamed China Football Association official described Sunday's draw made in Durban, South Africa, as the worst possible for China.

"Nothing could be worse... now we only have ourselves to rely on," he was quoted as saying in the Beijing Times newspaper.

The 20 Asian teams were drawn in five qualifying groups, with China joining Australia, Asian champions Iraq and Asian Games winners Qatar in group one, the so-called "group of death." Only group winners and runners-up go through to final qualifying stage. Wei said that the tough grouping would motivate China to work even harder to qualify for the finals for only the second time in the country's history.

"I don't accept the idea of a 'group of death' -- one can only say the China team is facing a lot of difficulties," he said.

"I believe our team members will see this as a force of motivation," he said. "Looking at the result of the draw, you should know what to do and how to prepare."

Wei said the team will start training in December and will at the same time start collecting information on the other group members.

China has qualified for the World Cup finals only once, in 2002, when the team was eliminated in the first round after losing all its matches without scoring a goal.

(SD-Agencies)