Preview:United Arab Emirates vs Iraq - prediction, team news, lineups

Passage to next year’s World Cup has come down to the fifth round for the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, who must battle it out in the first leg on Thursday, November 13.

Both nations are searching for only their second appearance at the finals, but overcoming each other is the first step to grabbing a spot at the inter-confederation playoffs next year.

Match preview

The UAE lost out on an automatic place at the World Cup by a single point in round four of the AFC qualifiers.

Al-Abyad were on course until they met Qatar, who were comfortably leading at 2-0, before a red card allowed the UAE back into the game.

Unfortunately for the hosts, their retaliation was far too late, as they pulled a goal back in the 98th minute of the game.

Despite seven additional minutes after the goal, Eyal Zayed could not get back into it and had to settle for the final round of qualifying.

While Cosmin Olaroiu’s men are in excellent form, losing just once across their last eight outings, they do not enjoy a positive record against the visitors.

Iraq are probably more unlucky to have not qualified automatically for the global showpiece next year, after they finished second based on the number of goals scored.

The Lions of Mesopotamia were level on points with Saudi Arabia, with both nations having the same goal difference, but the leaders scored more goals than Iraq.

The visitors’ previous outing ended goalless against the group winners, although they were lucky to have left with a point; but they will not mind playing an additional two fixtures in the hope of reaching North America next year.

Head coach Graham Arnold has done a decent job since taking the helm in May this year, overseeing six games so far, of which he has only lost one (W4).

Iraq’s five-game unbeaten run suggests that they could cause the UAE problems on Thursday, but before that sequence of games, they were on a five-game winless run (L4, D1).

However, the travelling party will be confident of getting a result here, especially since their previous defeat to the UAE came back in 2017.

United Arab Emirates World Cup Qualifying - Asia form:

United Arab Emirates form (all competitions):

Iraq World Cup Qualifying - Asia form:

Iraq form (all competitions):

Team News

The UAE’s hopes of easily getting through this were dashed by the news that playmaker Fabio De Lima is out of this set of qualifiers, after picking up an injury while on club duty.

During the third round of qualifying, he netted four times against Qatar, so his absence here can not be understated.

Yahya Al Ghassani and Sultan Adil are in the squad, but Thursday’s encounter may come too soon for the pair, as they face a race to be fit for this one.

Meanwhile, the hosts’ hopes will rest on Ali Saleh, who registered four assists and three goals in 12 qualifiers so far.

Star Iraqi forward Ayman Hussein is fit for the upcoming fixtures, but because of his recovery, he may only make the bench in the first leg.

The visitors will rely on Hussein, as he scored eight times in this edition of World Cup qualifiers, and he should be ably assisted by Ali Jasim, who registered four goal involvements throughout this campaign.

United Arab Emirates possible starting lineup:

Eisa; Pereira, Pimenta, Kouadio, Meloni; Canedo, Nader, Suarez, Saleh; Jiminez; Lucas

Iraq possible starting lineup:

Basil; Ali, Younis, Sulaka, Doski; Al-Ammari, Iqbal; Rashid, Amyn, Jasim; Hussein