IRAQ v JAPAN
Tuesday 13th June 2017 – Kickoff: 2025hrs
Football – Asia – World Cup Qualifier Betting Tips
The other match in Group B this evening concerns fifth placed Iraq taking on group leaders Japan at their Shahid Dastgerdi Stadium in Tehran, with Iraq looking to break a three-match run without a win.
Iraq sit in fifth place in the group as they’ve actually managed to earn just the one win so far in their World Cup qualifying campaign, which was a 4-0 home win over wooden-spooners, Thailand. However, since that rare win, Iraq have fallen foul of UAE 2-0 away from home and lost 1-0 away at Saudi Arabia.
Iraq did manage to hold Australia to a 1-1 draw in between those defeats, but they face another tough test this evening against an in-form Japan outfit who have yet to taste defeat on their travels in this campaign.
Onto Japan then, and the Blue Samurai have suffered just one defeat from their first seven group matches so far, while they still remain undefeated away from home with an overall road record of 2-1-0 5/1.
Wins at Thailand and UAE, both by 2-0 margins, have set them up nicely at the top of Group B along with a valuable point in a 1-1 draw away at Australia, but they can kick on tonight and put some daylight between themselves and their group rivals Saudi Arabia and Australia with a win this evening.
Japan have lost just once in their last 17 away matches in the World Cup qualifiers, and this impressive run includes a 1-0 win at Iraq in their last visit, which was back in June 2013.
To sum up, I’ll back Japan to take the points here and cover the -1 line.
Pick: Japan AH-1 @ 1.68 bet365
