Since the departure of Amir Ghalenoei following Iran's quarter-final exit at last summer's Asian Cup, the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) have failed to name a permanent successor to oversee the team's quest to progress from a tough-looking qualification group that includes Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Portuguese coach Artur Jorge was lined up for the job in early January but following the election of Ali Kaffashian as IFF president a week later, the Federation began looking elsewhere and now seem to have settled on former Spain coach Javier Clemente.

The Spaniard is expected to be at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran for Iran's Group Five opener against Syria on Wednesday but is likely to watch from the stands while caretaker coach Mansour Ebrahim Zadeh continues to take care of matters on the pitch, having been in charge for the goalless draws against Qatar and Costa Rica in friendlies last month.

Syria will offer a daunting first test despite not managing a win against the three-time Asian Cup winners in a competitive match since 1973.

The Syrians held Team Melli to a 1-1 draw when the teams met in Tehran 18 months ago and will be confident about their chances after impressive performances in the first two rounds of the qualifiers.

Fajr Ibrahim's side enjoyed a straightforward 5-1 aggregate triumph against minnows Afghanistan in the opening round before turning on the style against Indonesia, winning 4-1 in Jakarta and 7-0 in Damascus.

Ibrahim admits that it will be tough for his side to finish in the top two in the group and progress to the next round.

"The travelling will not be too bad because all the teams in our group are from west Asia but the level of all of the sides is quite equal and all four could qualify for the final round," he said.

"We have prepared ourselves well for the matches and I am optimistic that we can get some good results and the players can put in some good performances so that we can achieve our dream of progressing to the next round."

Wednesday's other Group Five match will be played at the Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi with UAE taking on Kuwait in the first meeting between the two sides since the Emirates won 3-2 in the same city en route to winning the Gulf Cup in January last year.

Bruno Metsu's side enjoyed a comprehensive 6-0 aggregate victory over Vietnam during the first round of the World Cup qualifiers and the Frenchman is confident about their chances of emulating the team that qualified for the 1990 World Cup.

"The draw was not that bad for us because we know all the teams in the group," said the former Senegal coach. "Iran are the favourites and we know Kuwait very well because we have played them previously while Syria are a well-developed side.

"But we have had warm-up matches against AC Milan, Sao Paolo, China and Asian Cup champions Iraq and they should prepare us well for the qualifiers.

"Hopefully, we can get off to a good start and be at our best in June when we play four matches."

The Kuwaitis lost three consecutive warm-up internationals in January before picking up a 1-1 draw against Oman in Muscat last Wednesday.

Newly-installed Croatian coach Radion Gacanin still fancies his side's chances of advancing to the final qualifying round though.

"We have to admit that we have been drawn in a tough group and it will not be easy at all for us," he said.

"However, Kuwait are a good team and we are confident of claiming one of the tickets for the next round.

"We will be ready for the qualifiers and I have plenty of trust in the players. I'm optimistic that we can get good results and hopefully advance to the next round."