At the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Thursday, Uzbekistan’s AFC Asian Cup 2023 Group B matchup against India made the latter appear like a school squad, winning 3-0.
With this victory, the Central Asian team achieved their first-ever result in the competition and maintained its second-place ranking, putting them in a strong position to advance to the knockout stages.
Conversely, India lost the match well-deservedly, having been forced to chase shadows for the most of the match, making it unlikely that it would advance past the group stage.
Playing in a different system than it typically plays in (4-3-3 instead of 4-2-3-1), the team appeared susceptible from the start as Uzbeks opened fire, scoring one goal after another. They led 1-0 after five minutes. Otabek Shukurov was heading to Abbosbek Fayzullaev when Sherzod Nasrullaev’s cross from the left was discovered.Easily beating Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, the 22-year-old hero of the Under-20 AFC Asian Cup 2023 found the bottom-right corner.After three years, Igor Sergeev scored his first goal for his country on foreign soil as he overlapped with Fayzullaev fourteen minutes later. At first, Akash Mishra blocked Fayzullaev’s left-wing cross with a backward step. But Sergeev arrived to sound the last death knell as the Mumbai City full-back’s attempted clearing ricocheted off the woodwork.
Utkir Yusupov saved the first one, while the second one went over the goal, but neither assisted the cause. Nasrullaev ended the match before halftime as Uzbekistan struck against the flow of play almost immediately.
Rahul Bheke came dangerously close to scoring with a header in the 72nd minute as India got back into the game with renewed vigor. However, Yusupov overcame him with a fingertip push over the goal thanks to his quick reflexes.
