In my opinion Iran is clear favorite of today's match up and they should be able to make comfortable win.

Iran is simply much better team at the moment than Iraq - they played twice against them in 2021 and recorded two wins: 1:0 at home in June and 3:0 on away in September. I see continuation of this streak today.

Iran today can secure their place in World Cup main tournament and motivation to make a win should be sky-high. Iran is very good team at both ends of the pitch, but their defensive formation is really rock-solid as they conceded only 2 goals in 6 group matches so far. I can imagine another clean sheet for hosts today because Iraq coming for this game without their two active best-scorers in national team: Alaa Abdul-Zahra (17 goals in 126 matches) and Mohanad Ali (17 goals in 37 matches). In addition to that other offensive player Ibrahim Bayesh is unavailable today, he played in Iraq attack in their last group game. For sure that will have bad impact on their performance in attack today and they should have big problems to break Iran super solid defense. Iraq failed to score in 3 of their last 4 matches.

Iran don't have big problems with goalscoring, they scored at least one goal in each group game so far and I see continuation of that streak today. Iraq coming to this game with depleted defensive formation and that should be helpful in that case. They are without goalkeeper Hassan (59 matches) and defenders Natiq (39 matches), Faez (36 matches), Adnan (84 matches), Mhawi (48 matches) and Ismail (60 matches). Is very hard to trust for them without so many important players.

In those circumstances for me Iran looks like really reasonable bet. I see their win to 'nil' today.

在我看来，伊朗显然是今天比赛的热门，他们应该能够轻松获胜。

伊朗比伊拉克强得多——他们在 2021 年与他们交手两次，并取得了两场胜利：6 月主场 1:0 和 9 月客场 3:0。今天很可能会延续这样的势头。

今天的伊朗可以确保他们在世界杯正赛的位置，并且获胜的动力应该是巨大的。伊朗在攻防两端都是非常出色的球队，他们的防守阵型确实坚如磐石，到目前为止他们在6场小组赛中只丢了2球。我可以想象今天他们能够力保不失球，因为伊拉克在这场比赛中缺少了他们的两个重要的射手：阿拉阿卜杜勒-扎赫拉（126 场比赛中的 17 球）和莫哈纳德·阿里（37 场比赛中的 17 球）。除了另一名进攻球员易卜拉欣·巴耶什今天无法上场外，他在伊拉克的最后一场小组赛中出战。肯定会对他们的进攻方面的表现，他们应该很难打破伊朗超级坚固的防守。伊拉克近4场比赛，其中3场均未取得进球。

伊朗队在进球方面没有大问题，到目前为止，他们在每场小组赛中都至少打进一球，我认为他们今天会延续这样的表现。伊拉克以权力防守的阵型参加这场比赛，这在这种情况下应该会有所帮助。他们缺少守门员哈桑（59场比赛）和后卫纳蒂克（39场比赛）、法埃兹（36场比赛）、阿德南（84场比赛）、马哈维（48场比赛）和伊斯梅尔（60场比赛）。缺少这么多重要的球员，他们很难信任。

在这种情况下，对我来说，伊朗看起来是一个非常合理的选择。我预测伊朗零封取胜。