Uzbekistan vs Iran: Match Preview and Prediction

Uzbekistan vs Iran
World Cup Qualifier – Asian Qualifier
Date: Thursday, 6th October 2016
Kick-off: 14:00 UK
Venue: Stadion Bunyodkor, Tashkent.

Uzbekistan have won their opening two matches in the Group A of the third round of World Cup 2018 Qualifiers. They defeated Syria at home on the opening day and Qatar away from home, both by the same 1-0 margin. With 6 points they are top of the group and will be confident in taking on the group favourites Iran on Thursday evening.

While Iran have managed a win and draw from their first two and are second in the group at a 2 point gap with Uzbekistan. The Carlos Queiroz managed team are not in the best of shapes. They struck twice deep into the injury time to earn a 2-0 win over Qatar on the opening day. However they paid the price in the second fixture as they were held to a goal-less draw by Syria.

Uzbekistan vs Iran: Head-to-Head Stats

The latest meeting between these two sides was in a friendly on June 2015 at the same venue of Thursday’s clash. Iran won 1-0 on that occasion with the goal coming late into the injury time.

In the five meetings so far between them, Iran and Uzbekistan share 2 wins each, with one match ending in a draw.

The last 4 games have seen under 1.5 goals with the last three ending in a 1-0 win for the away side.

Uzbekistan vs Iran: Prediction

Iran are going through a goal scoring crisis at the moment as seen in the first two games of the third round of qualifiers. While Uzbekistan are a defense oriented side and haven’t scored more than a goal in the last four matches in all competitions. Also, the last four clashes between these two sides have seen under 1.5 goals. So backing under 2.5 goals at full-time is one of the safest bets for this game.

We also believe that there will be only one goal that separates the team at the final whistle and both teams are even favourites to do the same. So you can expect a goal-less first half, which we consider as the best bet for this game.