Sherzod Nasrullaev of Uzbekistan celebrates with Abbosbek Fayzullaev after scoring his crew’s third aim through the AFC Asian Cup Group B match between India and Uzbekistan at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on January 18, 2024 in Doha, Qatar.
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Uzbekistan made India appear like a college crew, beating it 3-0 of their AFC Asian Cup 2023 Group B recreation on the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Thursday.
This was the primary win for the Central Asia aspect on this version of the event and retains it second within the standings and on the driving seat to qualify for the knockouts.
India, then again, was left chasing shadows in most components of the sport, and misplaced deservedly, leaving its possibilities of progressing previous the group stage to a miracle.
The aspect, enjoying in a formation totally different from the one it has normally performed in – in a 4-3-3 form as an alternative of 4-2-3-1 – regarded weak proper from kick-off as Uzbeks rained hellfire, with photographs one after the opposite. Within 5 minutes, they had been 1-0 up. Sherzod Nasrullaev’s cross from the left discovered Otabek Shukurov, who headed it to Abbosbek Fayzullaev. The 22-year-old star of the Under-20 AFC Asian Cup 2023 effortlessly struck it previous Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the bottom-right nook.
Fourteen minutes later, Igor Sergeev overlapped with Fayzullaev, with the previous scoring a global aim on overseas soil after three years. Initially, a back-tracking Akash Mishra intercepted Fayzullaev’s cross from the left. But because the Mumbai City full-back’s failed clearance ricocheted off the woodwork, Sergeev arrived to sound the dying knell.
India tried to claw again into the sport, producing two clear probabilities on the brink of half-time. Mahesh Singh Naorem took a shot from exterior the field whereas Sunil Chhetri tried a header from an Anirudh Thapa corner-kick.
But neither helped the trigger, with the primary one saved by Utkir Yusupov and the latter flying over the aim. Almost instantly, Uzbekistan attacked in opposition to the run of play, with Nasrullaev placing the competition to mattress earlier than the break.
India resumed with recent zeal within the second half, with Rahul Bheke nearly scoring within the 72nd minute, with a header. But Yusupov’s reflexes obtained the higher of him, with a fingertip push over the aim.
In the opposite recreation on this group, Australia rode on Jackson Irvine’s winner to beat Syria 1-0 and qualify for the knockouts, on the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium earlier within the day.
The outcomes: India 0 misplaced to Uzbekistan 3 (Fayzullaev 4, Sergeev 18, Nasrullaev 45+4); Syria 0 misplaced to Australia 1 (Irvine 60).
Source web site: www.thehindu.com
