May 28 (Reuters) - An Australia team in transition would be happy to snatch a draw against Japan in next Tuesday's World Cup qualifier in Saitama, Socceroos striker Archie Thompson said on Tuesday.

Leading Group B with 13 points, Asian champions Japan need just one more point to secure automatic qualification for the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Australia are third with six points.

"With Japan, they're in a good position at the moment. They only need a point and more than likely they will get it and be going to the World Cup," the Melbourne Victory player was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.

"A draw would be fantastic ... For us to come here and play a world-class Japanese team and get a result, that would be huge for us to go back to Australia. Anything we get here would be a bonus."

Australia round off their qualifiers with matches against Jordan, second in the group on seven points, and Iraq on June 11 and 18 respectively. Both group runners-up in the Asian zone qualify for the World Cup finals.

"We want to get a good result against Japan because we're at a stage now where it's do or die," said Thompson who scored a record 13 goals in a World Cup qualifier in 2001.

"I think at the moment we're in a transition phase. We've had a lot of players retire who were part of the Socceroos setup for a long time. And it's been those players who we could turn to whenever we were in trouble or the results weren't going our way.

"There are a lot of young players coming through and it's just a matter of time of finding the right mix and blend to get that fear back into the teams we play against," said Thompson.