We said: United Arab Emirates 6-0 Nepal
UAE are one of the nations expected to emerge from the shadows and take a qualifying spot given the World Cup's expansion, and they should get off to a comfortable start with a routine win here.
The two nations have only met once, and it came in a 1984 friendly which UAE won 11-0, and a similarly one-sided affair could be on the cards here.
Read more.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 United Arab Emirates win with a probability of 58.89%. A draw had a probability of 24.3% and a win for Nepal had a probability of 16.85%.
The most likely scoreline for a United Arab Emirates win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.31%) and 2-1 (9.28%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.22%), while for a Nepal win it was 0-1 (6.79%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 2.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that United Arab Emirates would win this match.