Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sharjah: Uzbekistan followed Japan to bow out of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2013 as they conceded a 75th minute winner to Honduras in the Round of 16 match played on Monday at the Sharjah Stadium.
The Uzbeks came in the match with a gritty defensive performance conceding just a single goal in the group stages and as it looked like that the match would be decided on penalty shoot-out, second-half substitute Jorge Bodden found the net in the 75th minute to break the Uzbeks’ heart.
The last year’s AFC U-16 champions were in total control of the match in the beginning before Akramjon Komilov was sent off for double cautions midway through the first half.
Though Uzbekistan were able to hold off Honduras for around 50 minutes with numerical inferiority, they finally succumbed to a fresh pair of legs of Bodden who came at the field in the 50th minute.
Alberth Elis slid a through ball towards Brayan Velasquez, who turned on the left side of the box to feed a clever pass through to Bodden. He made no mistake, firing in from close range.
After Japan and Uzbekistan failed to progress in the tournament, Asia’s third representative Iran will try their best on Tuesday to keep the continent in the tournament when they face Nigeria in Al Ain City.
Photo: AFP