Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Uzbekistan kept the pressure on DPR Korea at the top of Group H with a dominant 3-1 win over Yemen in their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifying clash on Tuesday.
Yemen went into the match at the Grand Hamad Stadium buoyed by having recently picked up their first win of the qualifiers but any hopes of following up last week’s heroic 1-0 victory over the Philippines began slipping away as early as the seventh minute when UAE-based midfielder Azizbek Haydarov opened the scoring form the edge of the area after being set up by skipper Odil Ahmedov’s cross from the left.
A swift counterattack saw the Uzbeks add to the Al Shabab midfielder’s opener, with Server Djeparov capping a flowing 31st minute move that began with the Central Asians winning position in their own half and culminated with the two-time AFC Player of the Year firing the ball past Yemen keeper Mohammed Ayash, with Ahmedov once again providing the assist.
Russia-based Ahmedov completed his hat-trick of assists as Uzbekistan went 3-0 up five minutes into the second half when the FC Krasnodar midfielder, who scored the Uzbeks third in last week’s 3-1 defeat of the North Koreans, delivered an inch-perfect cross for Stanislav Andreev to head home on the charge.
The Pakhtakor midfielder’s first of the qualifiers looked to have completed the scoring but there was to be another eye-catching cameo from substitute Ahmed Al Sarori.
The 17-year, who came off the bench to net Yemen’s winner against the Philippines in Manila last week, scored his second goal in as many matches when the youngster - a 70th minute replacement for Abdulwasea Al Matari - latched onto Ala Al Sasi’s pass before cooly slotting the ball past Uzbek keeper Aleksandr Lobanov two minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Uzbekistan’s victory took their points tally to 15, one less than DPR Korea but with Samvel Babayan’s side having played a game less than the two-time FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
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.