The UAE's 2026 World Cup quest takes them to Basra on Tuesday as the national team face Iraq in a play-off second leg.
Whoever wins the match, in what is the final phase of Asian qualifying, will keep alive their hopes of sealing a spot in the 48-team finals being held in North America next summer.
For the loser, the dream is over until qualifying begins for the next tournament in 2030 which is being jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.
What happened in first leg?
Last Thursday in Abu Dhabi saw Iraq forward Ali Al Hamadi fire his team in front with a close-range finish in the 11th minute.
UAE were level eight minutes later, much to the delight of home fans at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, when Luan Pereira headed home Abdullah Ramadan's cross.
Cosmin Olaroiu's side needed a couple of superb saves from goalkeeper and man of the match Khalid Essa to prevent falling behind again, despite having four forwards on the field for the last 20 minutes.
The UAE thought they had grabbed a last-gasp winner when Caio Lucas bundled the ball into the Iraqi net only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.
When and where is the second leg?
The deciding match is taking place on Tuesday, November 18, in front of 65,000 fans at Basra International Stadium, kick-off 8pm UAE.
Have the two countries played in a finals before?
Both Iraq and the UAE have reached the World Cup finals once before in their history. Iraq played at the 1986 finals in Mexico which saw them lose 1-0 to Paraguay, 2-1 to Belgium and 1-0 to the host nation.
Four years later, the UAE reached the finals held in Italy, losing 2-0 to Colombia, 5-1 against eventual winners West Germany and 4-1 to Yugoslavia.
What happens next for the winner?
Whoever comes out on top on Tuesday night will advance to the Inter-confederation play-offs in Mexico in March.
They will be joined in the final opportunity to qualify for the finals by Bolivia (from CONMEBOL), New Caledonia (from OFC), DR Congo (From CAF) and two teams from CONCACAF.
The four lowest-ranked teams in the Fifa standings will play in two single-elimination matches.
The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of single-elimination matches, with the two winners of these games booking their tickets to North America next summer.
Who has already qualified from Asia?
Six teams made it directly through from the third round of qualifying: Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan and Australia.
Two more – Qatar and Saudi Arabia – made it through the three-team play-offs last month after beating UAE and Iraq, respectively, over two legs.
Who else has made it through so far?
Host nations: Canada, Mexico, United States.
Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia.
Europe: Croatia, England, France, Norway, Portugal.
Oceania: New Zealand
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
Is Iraq v UAE on television?
It certainly is. The game is being shown live on beIN Sports.
