Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Igor Sergeev was on target for the third successive match as Uzbekistan moved to within one point of Group H leaders DPR Korea after coming from a goal down to defeat the East Asians 3-1 in their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifier on Thursday.
After going down 4-2 to the North Koreans in their qualifying curtain raiser in June, Uzbekistan embarked on a run of three successive victories but their hopes of maintaining their winning momentum suffered an early setback when Ri Hyok Chol - who opened his Group H account in the triumph over the Uzbeks in Pyongyang - headed home his second of the campaign with just two minutes at the Pakhtakor Stadium played.
Local hero Sergeev, who scored the only goal of the game as Uzbekistan defeated DPR Korea 1-0 at January’s AFC Asian Cup, headed the hosts level in the 24th minute with his fourth of the campaign following his double against the Philippines and strike against Bahrain, as the Pakhtakor forward’s equaliser saw an evenly-fought first half end all square.
Substitute Alexander Geynrikh, himself no stranger to scoring against the North Koreans having accounted for the winner in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang four years ago, doubled Uzbekistan’s lead in the 66th minute before skipper Odil Ahmedov sealed the 3-1 win with three minutes remaining.
Uzbekistan’s fourth consecutive victory took their points tally to 12, one less than DPR Korea who have played one game more than Samvel Babayan’s side.
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.