Saudi Arabia plays on Wednesday another crucial match in less than a week when it hosts the UAE in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. Saudis are gunning for the second spot of Group B before they play North Korea and South Korea in their remaining fixtures. Saudi Arabia is now third with seven points after beating Iran 2-1 last Saturday at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. North Korea's Saturday win over UAE put the team on the top of the group with 11 points, three ahead of its neighbor South Korea. A draw between the two Koreans will boost the Saudi hopes toward an automatic fifth World Cup appearance if they continue on the same track. Although Saudi team coach Jose Peseiro was confident ahead of his side's match against Iran, the Portuguese said that his boys should work hard to secure the qualification. In a press conference in Riyadh after Monday's training session, Peserio said that Saudi team should battle to win over UAE. “It is too early to talk about qualification and we should focus on the UAE match and work hard to win all the three points,” Peseiro said. Meanwhile, UAE plays Saudi Arabia for pride after it lost its chance for qualification, following a 2-0 defeat at the hands of North Korea. The UAE team arrived early on Sunday in Riyadh and had several training session with its head coach Dominique Bathenay who was widely criticized for his team selection for the game against North Korea. Saudi Arabia is expected to field the same squad that recorded victory in Tehran with only a few changes in tactics. Peseiro refused to recall striker Yasser Al-Qahatni who received a pardon from the team's management. “I will not call Al-Qahtani but the doors are widely open for all players in Saudi Arabia to join the team in the remaining matches.” Naif Hazazi who replaced Al-Qahatni against Iran proved himself as one of the emerging stars after he netted the equalizer for Saudi Arabia. History favors Saudi Arabia in Wednesday's clash as the hosts have won 15 and drawn six out of 27 meetings with the UAE. In their first leg match of the qualifies, Saudi Arabia won 2-1 against UAE in Abu Dhabi. Since 2006, five matches have been played between the two, with Saudi winning all but one when UAE edged Saudi Arabia 1-0 in Gulf Cup semifinal in January 2007. Meanwhile, in Group A, a win for Australia against Uzbekistan and a draw between fierce rivals Bahrain and Qatar will send the Socceroos through to South Africa with two games remaining, but it is the battle for playoff berths that is providing the most intrigue. Japan leads on 11 points and look almost certain to advance automatically with Australia, leaving Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan – all level on four points – gearing up for a thrilling dogfight for third place and a playoff spot. Defeat for any of them this week will likely signal an end to their chances of reaching their first World Cup Finals, and with a few scores to settle, much is at stake. Uzbekistan are still reeling from their acrimonious defeat to Bahrain in a playoff for the 2006 Finals, a match originally won by the Uzbeks but replayed due to bad refereeing. __