Scotland's enduring spirit in the Euro 2008 Group of Death' was last night rewarded with a favourable draw in qualification Group 9 for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Alex McLeish declared himself quietly optimistic after Scotland were drawn out in the five-team group consisting of Holland, the top seeds, Norway, Iceland and Macedonia. Whether the manager will remain in charge when the qualification campaign commences in 10 months remains doubtful. Birmingham City are expected to seek permission to speak to the national manager on his return from Durban and, if receptive, he could be in charge at St Andrews by the end of the week. Regardless, Scotland can proceed with legitimate optimism.

The draw was met with collective satisfaction by the Scottish FA delegation of McLeish, Gordon Smith, the chief executive, and George Peat, the president. Holland will be favourites to qualify automatically but after the hardship of being included in Euro 2008 qualification Group B alongside World Cup finalists France and Italy, and quarter-finalists Ukraine, the prospect of facing Norway and Iceland is both competitively and geographically agreeable.

The Dutch finished second in Euro 2008 qualifying Group G behind Romania, while Norway finished third behind runaway winners Greece, and Turkey, in Group C. Iceland were sixth in Group F, which was won by Spain and contained Northern Ireland, and Macedonia finished fifth in Group E, infamously drawing 0-0 with England at Old Trafford in October 2006.

Other than fewer matches - and consequently less commercial revenue - there is no discernible advantage to be gleaned from participation in the only five-team group. Eight of the nine second-placed teams will be drawn in a play-off for the remaining four places in the World Cup finals but the results against the teams that finish bottom of the six-team groups will be discounted.

McLeish refused to be drawn on his future but spoke more candidly on Scotland's chances of negotiating the World Cup qualifiers than he did of being a part of the journey. Indeed, his initial response was more akin to that of a Tartan Army foot-soldier than of the custodian of a nation's aspirations.

"Bring it on," he said boldly. "It is a great challenge. We are going to go for it, make it a successful campaign and hopefully take that one step further than we did in the previous one."

The SFA delegation were braced for a familiar challenge when Italy and France lurked in Pot A until the later stages and while Holland are the lesser of the three evils, McLeish's experiences last time around cultivated a philosophical approach.

"I would have taken France because we beat them home and away - they're easy," he joked. "We rose to the challenge against Italy, too, and played them off the park in the second half at Hampden but got nothing for it.

"Now we have to find that resilience when we are under the cosh and dig out results like the Italians do."

What odds on McLeish staying on for the ride? "It is a long time away and you can never tell in football," he said diplomatically. "Something that is out of your control might happen but I am happy to talk as Scotland manager until something else happens."

Smith revealed negotiations designed to extend McLeish's stay will continue when they return to Glasgow. Indications are this will be a laudable but futile exercise.

"There has been no approach yet from Birmingham," said Smith. "I have heard all the speculation but we do not want to lose him. We have made it clear we want to keep him in the job and extend his contract and we will take that further when we get back."

Scotland's rise to 14th place in the FIFA rankings system, and subsequent elevation to seeding pot two, proved a major boon last night, but Smith cautioned against complacency and pointed to the country's defiance of their fourth-place seeding in the European Championship qualifiers to reinforce his argument.

"We have to be realistic and you only need to look at the trouble we caused as fourth seeds, so we cannot afford to discount Macedonia or Iceland," he said. "Norway have always been of a good standard but there were one or two other groups I looked at and thought I'm glad we are not in there'.

"Macedonia are a good team, even though the former Yugoslavia has lost a little of its standard since the break-up. We will have fewer games than the other groups but, ultimately, it is how we play that will determine if we qualify. If you put it into perspective, I think we have a chance."