Some familiar foes will renew acquaintances in October when the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup enters its fourth round.

And for upstarts Indonesia, they will get another chance to show they have what it takes to match it with the continent’s best after Thursday’s draw pitted them against a team they recently notched a memorable upset over in the form of Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia were drawn in Group B, where they will meet Saudi Arabia and Iraq, while Group A consists of Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The new system of the Asian qualifiers, introduced in light of the World Cup’s expansion to 48 nations, will see the fourth round take place in centralised venues with teams facing off just once — rather than the usual home-and-away format.

As the top seeds, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will host their respective groups.

The draw, on paper, is hardly straightforward for Indonesia, who were — along with Oman — the third and lowest seeds in Thursday’s draw.

Nonetheless, this is an Indonesian outfit that has made a habit of upsetting the established order all throughout the campaign.

Already, they have done well to get this far after surviving and finishing fourth in a daunting third-round group that boasted continental powerhouses such as Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia memorably opened that stage with plucky draws against Saudi Arabia and Australia en route to going unbeaten in their first three matches.

But their biggest result would come last November when they pulled off a historic 2-0 victory over the Saudi Arabians courtesy of a Marselino Ferdinan double.

They could also be an element of revenge on Indonesia’s mind when they take on Iraq.

Last year, an extra-time defeat to the Iraqis in the third-place playoff of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup meant that Indonesia failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics automatically and had to go through an intercontinental playoff.

The Indonesians would ultimately see their Olympic dream slip away as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Guinea.

In Group A, Qatar and UAE are also no strangers having previously meet in the third round.

And while Qatar will have home advantage given their status as the higher-placed team in the world rankings, they will be well aware that their recent form against the Emiratis is nothing to write home about.

In the third round, UAE were unfazed at the prospect of an opening game away in Al Rayyan as they claimed an impressive 3-1 win, before following up with a resounding 5-0 triumph in the corresponding fixture at home.

Only the two group winners qualify automatically for the World Cup, while the bottom two will be eliminated.

The two runners-up will then face off against each other a fifth round, with the victors moving on to an interconfederation playoff for the chance to be the continent’s 9th representatives at the tournament.

The six teams that have already qualified from the previous round of the Asian qualifiers are Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, and debutants Uzbekistan and Jordan.