Having seen Ecuador lay down an early marker in Group A with victory over Qatar in the opener, Senegal and Netherlands have their first chance to fire a response when they meet in their curtain-raisers on Monday.
Senegal have already enjoyed a golden year in their history by winning the Africa Cup of Nations and securing their place in Qatar, both at the expense of Egypt.
Netherlands, meanwhile, are back on the biggest stage after an eight-year absence, having failed to qualify for the 2018 edition in Russia.
Here, Sports Mole looks back at how both teams booked their places in Qatar.
SENEGAL
Senegal comfortably topped Group H in Africa's section of World Cup qualifying, winning five and drawing one of their six matches against Togo, Namibia and Congo.
Alanyaspor's Famara Diedhiou top scored for the Lions of Teranga with four goals - three of which came in a 3-1 win away to Namibia - while Sadio Mane and Ismaila Sarr both scored three goals apiece.
As such, Senegal advanced to the third round of CAF qualifying, which features 10 teams pitted against each other in a two-legged fight for only five African spots at the World Cup.
In a twist of fate, Senegal were drawn against their AFCON final opponents Egypt, with both teams winning 1-0 on their home turf to set up yet another penalty shootout. As was the case in Cameroon less than two months prior, Mane bagged the winning penalty to spark wild celebrations in Dakar.
NETHERLANDS
Having been drawn in a qualification group with Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar, the Netherlands may have felt that they could breeze through Group G, but that idea went out the window as Frank de Boer's side succumbed to a 4-2 defeat in Turkey on matchday one.
All of a sudden, the next two encounters to Latvia and Gibraltar, the minnows of the group, became important for both nation and manager, and Netherlands responded with 2-0 and 7-0 wins respectively.
However, being eliminated at the last-16 stage of Euro 2020 resulted in De Boer's departure, leading to the return of Van Gaal, who began his reign with a 1-1 draw in Norway.
Although they had dropped five points in four games, two difficult away fixtures were out of the way, and Netherlands proceeded to thrash Montenegro and Turkey by 4-0 and 6-1 scorelines within a week of their stalemate in Oslo.
Wins over Latvia and Gibraltar in October followed, but conceding two late goals in Montenegro led to a 2-2 draw in Podgorica, resulting in Netherlands being required to avoid defeat in their final fixture at home to Norway.
With 10 minutes remaining, the contest remained goalless, but strikes from Steven Bergwijn and Memphis Depay, taking his tally for the campaign to 12, ensured that the Netherlands finished two points clear in top spot.
body check tags ::
