The Match
Preview
Sports Mole previews Thursday's World Cup Qualifying - Asia clash between Iran and Iraq, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
We said: Iran 2-0 Iraq
While Iraq deserve respect for only losing twice in six matches in the third round, we simply cannot back against Iran. Defensively, they look a cut above the rest, and a professional performance will get the job done on Thursday. Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Iran win with a probability of 63.18%. A draw had a probability of 24.5% and a win for Iraq had a probability of 12.35%.
The most likely scoreline for a Iran win was 1-0 with a probability of 18.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (14.99%) and 2-1 (8.13%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (11.82%), while for a Iraq win it was 0-1 (6.41%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 18.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Iran in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Iran.
| Result | ||
| Iran | Draw | Iraq |
| 63.18% | 24.47% | 12.35% |
| Both teams to score 33.34% |
| Goals |
| Over 2.5 | Under 2.5 |
