Iraq vs Korea Republic

The Korea Republic travel to the Thani bin Jassim Stadium to take on out-of-sorts Iraq in a potentially decisive World Cup qualifying fixture.

It’s been an underwhelming World Cup Qualification Group A campaign for Iraq so far, as they’ve drawn four of their opening five third-round fixtures (L1), including the last three in a row. There has at least been an attacking improvement from Iraq’s attacking line, as they’ve gone from drawing a blank in four consecutive World Cup qualifiers to scoring three times in the last two. That said, the ‘Lions of Mesopotamia’ have scored just once across their previous three World Cup qualifying games on home turf (D2, L1), courtesy of Amir Al Ammari’s late penalty in a 1-1 draw with Syria last time out. Having failed to find the net in three straight meetings with South Korea (D2, L1), Dick Advocaat’s men could have another disappointing qualifying round on their hands.

Unlike their hosts, the Korea Republic have hit the ground running in Group A, avoiding defeat in all five matches to date (W3, D2) while keeping three clean sheets in the process. Sitting a whopping six points clear of third-placed Lebanon, the ‘Taegeuk Warriros’ look set to qualify for their tenth World Cup finals in a row. But playing away from home has not been South Korea’s strong suit lately, as they’ve only won one of their last seven international travels (D3, L3), failing to score on four occasions in that period. Particularly ponderous in possession before half-time, Paulo Bento’s men have scored just one first-half goal across their last six World Cup qualifying outings, courtesy of Hee-Chan Hwang’s penalty in a 1-0 win over the United Arab Emirates last time out.