Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Davron Choriev scored twice as hosts Uzbekistan defeated Saudi Arabia 5-2 in their Group A opener at the AFC Futsal Championship on Wednesday.
Jose Maria Pazos’s side went into the break at a packed Uzbekistan Stadium with a one-goal advantage after Choriev’s tap-in on 17 minutes before Essam Sufyani equalised three minutes after the restart.
Jamoliddin Sharipov and Choriev’s brace gave the home side a two-goal lead soon after, but Zafer Jmah pulled one back for the Saudis before Artur Yunusov made it 4-2 midway through the half.
Konstantin Sviridov then put the game beyond any doubt when he made it five seven minutes from time as Uzbekistan moved to the summit of the group after Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan played out a 4-4 draw in the day’s other Grouo A encounter.
“The best thing we can say about this game is that we won because for 25 minutes they were better than us and deserved much more than us,” said Uzbekistan coach Pazos.
“At half-time we were leading 1-0 but deserved to be losing by two or three goals. We said in the locker room that we couldn’t play any worse, and after that we played more freely.
“We misplaced so many passes in the first half … maybe we were nervous in front of so many people.
“In the second half we were much better and were more accurate with our chances, and in the last 15 minutes we were the better team.”
In front of a vocal home support it was Saudi Arabia who almost went in front on two minutes when Sufyani laid the ball back to Fares Al Maleh, but his powerful drive rebounded back off the woodwork.
Uzbekistan came back into the game and Nodir Elibaev was foiled by goalkeeper Talal Al Shehri from close in after six minutes before the Saudis twice came close midway through the half through Al Maleh and Sufyani.
As both teams threatened to break the deadlock Al Shehri expertly denied Yunusov’s header from point blank range after 13 minutes, while Sufyani again shot wide a minute later.
And Sufyani’s evening then got worse as his misplaced cross-field pass three minutes before the interval landed at the feet of Choriev for an easy finish at the back post.
Never far from the action, Sufyani made amends for his mistakes in the 24th minute when he was on hand to finish Al Maleh’s square ball.
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Quick-fire goals from Sharipov and Choriev then put the hosts 3-1 to the good before Jmah pulled one back for the Saudis in the 26th minute as the game opened up.
But the hosts restored their two-goal advantage midway through the half when Yunusov was presented with an open goal inside the penalty area before Sviridov gave Saudi Arabia a mountain to climb with a sweetly struck effort from distance in the 33rd minute.
“We put in a good performance against a great team; one of the best in Asia,” said Saudi Arabia coach Abdullah Al Rashoud.
“The result was 5-2 but the first four goals were all defensive mistakes with Uzbekistan breaking from defence to attack.
“We had at least five chances to score at 0-0 but we missed them. Experience was key to the result, but overall I’m happy with how we played.”