England and Iran head to Qatar with differing ambitions at the tournament, and also with differing form going into their opener at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday.
Whereas the Three Lions have suffered a year to forget so far, Iran have picked up some eye-catching results in the build-up to this winter's tournament.
The stop-start nature of international football means that recent results perhaps hold less importance than they would in the club game, though, and England will still go into the match as favourites to kick off with a win.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the recent form of both teams ahead of the tournament.
ENGLAND
England's ardent fans have already learned not to get ahead of themselves before a major tournament, but on the back of two noteworthy results in the World Cup and Euros, plenty have dared to dream.
However, any shreds of optimism that Southgate's critics may have had is surely absent after England's horrendous Nations League campaign saw them relegated to League B, and the Three Lions will enter the World Cup having failed to win any of their last six games.
Scheduling four Nations League matches in quick succession after a gruelling domestic season was not a genius move, but England were not the only ones falling victim to the unforgiving fixture list, and Southgate's men did not live up to expectations in League A.
England only took two points from four matches in June and were torn to shreds in a 4-0 defeat to Hungary at Molineux, marking their worst home loss for 94 years, and their dismal streak continued in a 1-0 loss to Italy three months later.
By this point, England had only found the back of the net once in the Nations League through Harry Kane's penalty against Germany, failing to score in open play in five successive matches before Die Mannschaft made the trip to Wembley.
Southgate's side would pick an ideal time to end their profligate streak in a pulsating 3-3 draw, but failure to beat Iran on the opening matchday would see England equal an unwanted national record of seven games without victory - first set all the way back in 1958 - which would be an unwelcome blot on the 52-year-old's notebook.
IRAN
Iran have only played three warm-up friendlies under Queiroz's management, beating Uruguay 1-0 at the NV Arena through Taremi's late strike in September, before claiming a 1-1 draw courtesy of Azmoun's equaliser four days later at the BSFZ-Arena.
Most recently, they defeated Nicaragua 1-0 at the Azadi Stadium on home soil, with Mehdi Torabi bagging the winner in the 15th minute before the hosts showed their usual defensive steeliness despite putting out a weakened side due to club involvements.
Prior to Queiroz's appointment, Team Melli were beaten 2-1 by Algeria in a friendly in Qatar in June, so the former Real Madrid boss will be hoping that they perform much better in those surroundings when the World Cup begins later this month.
body check tags ::
