Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Ho Chi Minh City: Unbeaten Uzbekistan will face Lebanon in the quarter-finals of the AFC Futsal Championship after a 3-0 win over a stubborn Korea Republic on Monday secured top spot in Group D.
Shuhrat Tojiboev set three-time finalists Uzbekistan on their way shortly before half-time at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium before Davron Choriev and Dilshod Rakhmatov settled any nerves in the second half.
And despite defending champions Japan recovering from Friday’s 2-1 defeat by the Central Asians to down Kyrgyzstan 4-0 to seal their place in the last eight, Uzbekistan’s second win of the campaign secured an 11th consecutive appearance in the knockout stage for the 2012 quarter-finalists.
“We started to prepare for this tournament after the qualifying round and I am satisfied with the way the players played today. Korea are a good team and I respect them as a team, but my players played better today,” said Uzbekistan coach Bahodir Ahmedov.
“The most important thing in futsal is defence and attack and we will pay attention to defence in particular before the quarter-final as we made many mistakes today.
“I have known about Lebanon since I was a player and they are always one of the best in Asia. They move very well, but we will analyse this team and prepare to show our best.”
With Uzbekistan needing to win to guarantee qualification and Korea only playing for pride following two defeats, it was the Central Asians who made the stronger start and rattled the post after nine minutes through Andrey Shlema.
And the woodwork again came to Korea’s rescue four minutes later as Makhsud Fayzullaev’s strike was deflected onto the upright by Lee Joo-seop.
But noting could stop Uzbekistan eventually opening the scoring just over five minutes before half-time as Tojiboev poked home from close range following a free-kick on the edge of the Korea penalty area.
Uzbekistan remained the dominant force in the second half but struggled to find the required quality in the final third to increase their advantage as Choriev’s header with 10 minutes remaining landed on top of the crossbar.
But four minutes later Choriev finally doubled Uzbekistan’s lead as he swept home at the back post from Tojiboev’s kick-in.
And with just over 90 seconds remaining, Rakhmatov’s sealed the win by turning home from Tojiboev’s free-kick.
Korea eventually finished the game with four-men on the field as Kim Ho-jin picked up a second yellow card with just over 10 seconds remaining.
“This is what we were looking for from the beginning. We have been looking for this rhythm of competition. And if we can begin with this rhythm we can start to compete with these teams,” said Korea coach Raul Gonzalez.
“The players are coming from the Korean league and they are not used to this high level of competition and rhythm and it is hard to adapt to this level of competition, but this was the intensity we were looking for.
“I hope the players understand the rhythm and intensity needed in this type of competition. I hope we can increase this level and not go back and this will make it difficult.”