Wales play their second game of the 2022 World Cup against Iran on Friday.
Robert Page’s side drew their opener with the United States 1-1 and know three points are vital to make the knockout stages of the tournament.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the main talking points surrounding the clash at Doha’s Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Bale still the main man
The game has changed and those lung-busting unstoppable runs have primarily gone.
But 33-year-old Gareth Bale is still capable of providing match-defining moments and remains the difference for Wales as he prepares to win a record 110th cap against Iran.
Bale both won and scored the penalty against the USA to keep Wales’ hopes of making the last 16 alive.
More Kieffer, please
At 6ft 5ins Kieffer Moore is difficult to miss and the absence of his name from the Wales teamsheet for the opening game was a shock.
Boss Page realised the error of his ways after a futile first 45 minutes and Moore changed Wales’ fortunes after being sent on at half-time, holding the ball up to bring Bale and Aaron Ramsey into play.
Moore must return to the starting line-up on Friday, especially after England showed in their handsome opening 6-2 win that Iran are defensively fragile in the air.
Allen hope
“Give me hope Joe Allen” sing the Wales fans to the tune of Eddy Grant’s “Gimme Hope Jo’anna – and they are hoping the Swansea midfielder is fit enough to play some part after missing their World Cup opener.
The 72-times capped Allen, so fundamental to the way Wales operate, has not played since damaging a hamstring on September 17.
But Allen has stepped up his fitness push over the past few days and joined the main group after spending the first few days in Qatar training on his own.
Will Wales feel the heat?
Wales had the luxury of a 10pm kick-off local time against the United States and playing in cooler conditions.
But the Iran game is first up on Friday, with the action kicking off at 1pm.
The temperature is expected to be around 29 degrees Celsius at kick-off, so will that prove an advantage for Iran players more used to hot conditions?
Tehran clash
Whereas England had never played Iran until Monday’s World Cup meeting, Wales have previously met the three-time Asian Cup winners.
A Tehran friendly was arranged in April 1978 as the Liverpool-supporting son of the Shah of Iran wanted to invite a British side to play in the country.
Wales won the game 1-0 with Cardiff’s Phil Dwyer scoring the only goal in front of a 50,000 crowd.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here