Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Dubai: Uzbekistan eased into the quarter-finals with an emphatic 9-1 triumph over Indonesia in their final Group D fixture but it was not enough for the Central Asians top the table following Kuwait's 5-0 win over China.
Uzbekistan went one-up inside four minutes when Dilshod Israliev's shot went through the legs of Syahidansyah and past the unsighted Ade Lesmana.
The Indonesia keeper was beaten for the second time when Nodir Elibaev fired home Shuhrat Tojiboev's corner-kick four minutes later but Indonesia pulled reduced the deficit in the 13th minute when Gustian Wardhana slid in at Rustam Umarov's left-hand post to knock in Syahidansyah's cross.
However, the Uzbeks restored their two-goal cushion less than a minute later when Fuji's attempted clearance spun into the air allowing Israliev to head in his second and Uzbekistan's third before Hurshid Tajibaev made it 4-1 when he swept in Konstantin Sviridov's cutback from the byline with three minutes left on the clock.
One minute after the restart Farkhod Abdumavlyanov got the better of Fuji and saw off the attention of two Indonesian defenders to make it 5-1 with a fine solo effort and four minutes later it was six, with Oleg Khalmukmamedov playing a one-two with Tajibaev before firing the ball into the roof of the net.
Tajibaev went from provider to scorer in the 31st minute with his second of the game taking the dominant Uzbeks' tally to seven and with three minutes left to play Abdumavlyanov netted his brace before Dilshod Rakhmatov sealed the one-sided contest when he converted the rebound after Lesmana had saved Sviridov's direct kick.
"We did our job and that was to get goals but it wasn't enough for us to top the group after Kuwait got a result that few people expected," Uzbekistan coach said at the post-match press conference.
"Now it is likely that we will have to face Iran and although I would have preferred to face any other team I am not going to cry about it."