Despite having Asia's top-ranked side Islamic Republic of Iran and the exciting Iraq in their group, Bahrain will be fancying their chances after having lifted the 2019 WAFF Championship last month.

Bahrain defeated Iraq 1-0 in the final and Sousa's players will be eager to face them again in their opening tie in Riffa on Thursday.

The West Asians will then travel to Phnom Penh to play Cambodia on September 10. Hong Kong are the fifth team in Group C.

The 30-year-old struck shortly before half-time to silence the capacity crowd, before Bahrain held on to become the competition’s sixth winners since it was held for the first time in 2000.

Bahrain’s win caps a spectacular start to life at the helm for Portuguese head coach Hélio Sousa, who emerges from his first tournament in charge of the side with a regional title and four consecutive clean sheets.

Renard, appointed in July, has been tasked with ensuring Saudi Arabia qualify for their second successive FIFA World Cup and sixth overall.

They will also be chasing a fourth AFC Asian Cup title after their UAE 2019 campaign ended in the group stage.

Eight months after lifting the AFC Asian Cup for the first time at UAE 2019, Qatar will begin the defence of their title against Afghanistan in Group E of the Asian Qualifiers on Thursday.

Uzbekistan have established themselves among the upper echelon of Asian football but have yet to represent the Continent on the game’s greatest stage and Cuper – who led Egypt to the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018 – is determined to make a strong start to their challenge later this week.

Hong Kong will commence their campaign against Cambodia in Phnom Penh before hosting Group C top seeds Islamic Republic of Iran five days later at Hong Kong Stadium in what represents a difficult start to their challenge.

Iraq and Bahrain are also in the group, with the pair meeting in Riffa on Thursday.

Further good news for head coach Bert van Marwijk, who will be leading the UAE into competitive action for the first time, was the return of UAE talisman Omar Abdulrahman after a long injury lay-off.