ESPN - Iran captain Karim Bagheri is remaining cautious ahead of the Asian Cup qualifying contest with Singapore in Tehran on Wednesday.
Team Melli enter the opening Group E contest as the overwhelming favourites to clinch a place in Qatar in 2011, but Bagheri has urged his side not to be complacent.
"People think it's going to be a one-sided match but it's going to be more difficult than that," said the midfielder. "We mustn't underestimate them and we need a good performance against Singapore and then Thailand before our extremely difficult World Cup qualifier against South Korea."
Singapore reached the semi-finals of last month's Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup, but coach Raddy Avramovic is aware his side enter the fixture in Tehran as underdogs.
"Iran are a physically very strong and compact team, and have very fast, attacking individuals," said Avramovic. "We'll have to keep them out of our penalty box, and disrupt their passing game."
