Predictions World Cup Qualifying Asia - Iraq vs Oman | September 5, 2024

World Cup Qualifying Asia - Saudi Arabia vs Indonesia
Match Time: 05-09-2024 23:00 Thursday (GMT+7)
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Iraq will return to action on Thursday with the aim of strengthening their bid to reach a second-ever World Cup and a first since 1986 in their first third-round outing.

After falling short at this stage for the 2022 competition in Qatar, the Usood al-Rafidayn kicked off their latest bid in the second round and dominated Group F, finishing top with a perfect record having opened up with 5-1 and 1-0 victories over Indonesia and Vietnam respectively.

Then following an AFC Asian Cup campaign which ended with a round-of-16 defeat to Jordan, Jesus Casas's team returned to qualifying in March with 1-0 and 5-0 triumphs in a pair of meetings with the Philippines, and they would only strengthen their standing in the final two outings in June, completing doubles over Indonesia and Vietnam.

After beating the former 2-0 on their travels, the Usood al-Rafidayn most recently hosted Vietnam for their final contest with a third-round spot already secured and ended on a high, completing a perfect record with a 3-1 victory in Basra courtesy of goals from Hussein Ali, Ali Jasim and Aymen Hussein.

Now heading back into action having won seven of their last eight competitive outings since mid-January, Iraq will aim to pick up where they left off in World Cup qualifying and kick off their third-round bid with a home victory on Thursday before visiting Kuwait next week.

Their visitors, meanwhile, will also bid to make a fast start in their third-round group after a pleasing start to their latest qualifying bid, as Oman continue their search for a first-ever World Cup group-stage appearance.

After progressing to this stage in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup and only missing out on progressing to the final round by a single point, they again cruised through the second round in their latest bid, topping their group with 13 points.

That campaign included a change in management, as Jaroslav Silhavy took over in February following their AFC Asian Cup group exit, and after taking over with Oman sat on three points from two games, he would inspire three victories in his first three games at the helm, as Oman picked up back-to-back 2-0 wins over Malaysia and a 3-0 triumph away at Chinese Taipei.

A final-round meeting with second-placed Kyrgyzstan then followed in June and Silhavy's team kept hold of top spot by finishing with a 1-1 draw in Muscat, having initially fallen behind in the first half before an Erzhan Tokotayev own goal levelled the scores on the hour mark.

With plenty of confidence to take from a near-perfect start to life under their new boss, culminating in a first-placed finish in the last round, Oman will now bid to go one better than their last qualifying effort in this year's third round, starting with what would be a crucial away win on Thursday.

Prediction: Iraq 2-0 Oman