Al Minaa Basra — Duhok: 1:1, Iraqi League

Al-Minaa Basra and Dahuk played out a 1-1 draw in the Iraqi League's eighth round on Thursday evening. Igor opened the scoring for the hosts before K. Jafar levelled for the visitors late on. The result leaves Al-Minaa seventh with seven points and Dahuk tenth on eight.

And here's the thing about this match — you could see where it was going to be decided before either goal. The hosts dominated possession at 56 per cent and registered 132 attacks compared to Dahuk's 98. They created more chances but couldn't convert them, while the visitors were sharper when it mattered.

Igor's goal in the seventy-second minute put Al-Minaa ahead and for a while it looked like home comfort might prevail. To be fair, Dahuk hadn't been second to everything all evening. They had three shots on target to two, and when the break came they adjusted. K. Jafar's strike in the eighty-seventh minute was the kind of moment that defines these encounters.

By then the match had settled into something familiar. Al-Minaa had four corners to Dahuk's three, but neither side could string together enough pressure. The visitors picked up a yellow card while the hosts kept their discipline clean. Shots off target were evenly matched at three and four respectively.

It was a result that doesn't change much in the table, but it might matter more than the points suggest. Al-Minaa have kept three clean sheets on the spin recently, though this form guide shows a side that's been inconsistent. Dahuk's five draws tell a different story — they're hard to beat but struggle to win.

We had tipped the visitors to go through, confidence at thirty-seven per cent. The prediction didn't come off, and honestly it shouldn't have. Cup football has its own rules, and this was a game where the hosts' home advantage outweighed whatever edge Dahuk might have had on paper.