Every team at a World Cup arrives at their opening game with the same record: nothing played, nothing won, nothing lost. That clean slate is the whole point of a group-stage opener, and when Austria face Jordan at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday 17 June at 05:00 UK time, both nations will be acutely aware of what hangs on the next ninety minutes.
Group J is one of the tournament's more intriguing collections. Argentina, the reigning world champions, sit at the summit on paper before a ball has been kicked, with Algeria completing what looks, on the surface, like a demanding group for the two sides meeting first. Austria and Jordan both know that a win here does not merely deliver three points; it shifts the psychological weight of the group immediately, putting the victors in a position to target second place while leaving the defeated side facing the prospect of elimination from their remaining two matches.
Austria arrive as the higher-ranked European outfit, a side that has become increasingly comfortable on the continental stage. For Jordan, reaching this World Cup at all represents the high point of their footballing development as a nation, and facing European opposition in California rather than in their own region will test their adaptability.
Both squads report no fresh absences ahead of kick-off, which at least means neither manager will be forced into unplanned reshuffles on the biggest stage either nation has shared together. A full complement of players available also means there are no convenient excuses on either bench should things go wrong.
There is no head-to-head history between these two countries to lean on for guidance, so the occasion itself becomes the reference point. Austria will carry the expectations of a European footballing tradition; Jordan will carry the pride of a region still establishing itself at the game's highest level.
The data, for what it is worth, leans nowhere in particular. The prediction models split the three outcomes at 33 per cent apiece, which is the analytical equivalent of a shrug. What that tells you is that nobody truly knows how this one unfolds, and in a first competitive meeting between two nations with contrasting football cultures, that is probably the most honest assessment available. The pitch at Levi's Stadium will have to do the talking.