Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Manama: Uzbekistan moved to within a point of Group H leaders DPR Korea after scoring four second-half goals to defeat Bahrain 4-0 in their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifying clash on Thursday.
Neither side could take the initiative at the at the National Stadium in the Bahraini capital until Igor Sergeev put the visitors 1-0 up seven minutes into the second half.
Skipper Odil Ahmedov doubled Uzbekistan’s advantage five minutes later before Sardor Rashidov, who moved from Tashkent giants Bunyodkor to Qatar’s El Jaish back in July of this year, made it 3-0 in the 66th minute.
Late substitute Eldor Shomurodov, who came on in the 87th minute in place of Ahmedov, had enough playing time to make it 4-0, with the 20-year-old Bunyodkor forward scoring his first goal of the qualifiers five minutes into stoppage time.
The victory took the 2015 AFC Cup quarter-finalists’ points tally to nine, one less than DPR Korea who were denied their fourth win of the campaign after being held to a goalless draw at home by the Philippines in Thursday’s other Group H fixture.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
NEXT FIXTURES:
October 13: Bahrain v the Philippines
November 12: Uzbekistan v DPR Korea