These are two evenly matched teams who are searching to find a clear identity and a brand of football that is suitable to their skill set.
Iraq still have something to play for on Tuesday, but like Syria, they have not shown a ton of consistency in this round of qualifying, and seeing as there is no decided edge when you look at these sides on paper, a draw seems like a probable scenario.
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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 Syria win with a probability of 43.93%. A win for Iraq had a probability of 29.56% and a draw had a probability of 26.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Syria win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.36%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.89%) and 2-0 (8.02%). The likeliest Iraq win was 0-1 (8.92%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.59%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-1 draw for this match.
