Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Tashkent: Lebanon have been rocked by the sudden retirement of captain Roda Antar ahead of Tuesday’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan.
The veteran midfielder, 32, did not travel with the squad to Tashkent following Friday’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Thailand and confirmed the news on Monday.
And with Lebanon currently three points adrift at the foot of Group A, coach Theo Bucker will hope the announcement will not cause too much disruption within the Cedars’ squad after Lebanon impressively beat Thailand 5-2 in Beirut last week.
“Roda Antar has finished his international career,” said Bucker on Monday ahead of the meeting with Uzbekistan at Bunyodkor Stadium.
“We spoke to him several times during the last few months, but he has left the national team during a difficult period for us.
“He just decided about it before the game with Uzbekistan. It may have been before the next match, but he decided now.”
Hassan Chaito scored twice in the first half on Friday as Lebanon’s new attacking style proved too much for Thailand, although Bucker knows Group A leaders Uzbekistan represent a new challenge on Tuesday after the pair shared a 1-1 draw in Beirut at the start of the campaign in June.
“We came here full of hope to claim a victory. We know the match will be very difficult as I think there is a great difference between the two teams,” added Bucker.
“We know that there are differences physically and technically, but our aim is to achieve a positive result.”
Uzbekistan, who are chasing a first appearance at the FIFA World Cup finals, currently top the Group A table with a one-point cushion over Korea Republic, Iran and Qatar having recorded back-to-back away wins over Iran and Qatar.
But coach Mirdjalal Kasimov will be hopeful of a much-improved display at the new 40,000-seat Bunyodkor Stadium after Uzbekistan lost Friday’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier 2-1 to the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.
“We are planning to gain only a victory, we have no other ideas and the players are ready,” said Kasimov.
“It will be a difficult game, but we should win and give our fans a happy night as it is the first official match in the new stadium.
“We have studied our opponent and identified the strong and weak sides of Lebanon after we watched their games with Iran and Thailand. If you want to achieve good results, you have to know all the information about your opponents.
“Lebanon are a disciplined team. I think they have improved since we last played them. Lebanon have fast players and they played with counterattacks against Thailand.
“The atmosphere within the team is very good even though we lost to the UAE. I have, though, called up two new players to the squad with Farhod Tadjiev and Kamoliddin Murzoev joining us for training and I hope they can help the team.”
Photo: AFP