Uzbekistan national football team

Infobox National football team
Name = Uzbekistan
Badge = Uzbekistan_FA.gif
Badge_size = 107px
FIFA Trigramme = UZB
Association = Uzbekistan Football Federation
Confederation = AFC (Asia)
Coach = flagicon|Uzbekistan Mirjalol Kasymov
Most caps = Mirjalol Kasymov (65)
Top scorer = Mirjalol Kasymov
Maksim Shatskikh (29)
Home Stadium = Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium
FIFA Rank = 70
1st ranking date = October 1994
FIFA max = 32
FIFA max date = November 2006
FIFA min = 70
FIFA min date = October 2008
Elo Rank = 51

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First game = flagicon|Tajik SSR Tajikistan 2 - 2 Uzbekistan Flagicon|Uzbekistan (Dushanbe, Tajikistan; 17 June, 1992)
Largest win = fb|Mongolia 0-15 Uzbekistan Flagicon|Uzbekistan (Chiangmai, Thailand; December 5, 1998)
Largest loss = fb|Japan 8–1 Uzbekistan Flagicon|Uzbekistan (Saida,Lebanon; October 17, 2000)
World cup apps =
World cup first =
World cup best =
Regional name = AFC Asian Cup
Regional cup apps = 4
Regional cup first = 1996
Regional cup best = Quarterfinals, 2004, 2007 The Uzbekistan national football team represents Uzbekistan in international football competitions. It is controlled by the Uzbekistan Football Federation and is a member of the Asian Football Confederation.

After the split from the Soviet Union, they played their first match against Tajikistan on June 17, 1992. Uzbekistan have consistently been the strongest team out of the new Central Asian nations (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan). They won the Asian Games in 1994.

Overview

They were knocked out in the final stage of Asian qualification to the 2006 FIFA World Cup after losing on the away goals rule to Bahrain. The result was subject to controversy as actually three games were played; the first, a 1-0 win for Uzbekistan, was wiped out after FIFA declared the result void after a mistake by a Japanese referee. The replay ended 1-1, and after the return finished 0-0, Uzbekistan were eliminated.

In the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, Uzbekistan was able to get past the group stage by beating Malaysia 5-0 and China 3-0. However, Uzbekistan was knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals stage by losing to Saudi Arabia 2-1.

Competition history

World Cup record

*1998 to 2006 - "Did not qualify"
*2010 - Qualifiers underway

The strongest of the five former Soviet Republics to have joined the Asian Football Confederation, Uzbekistan will be keen to live up to the promise they showed in winning the 1994 Asian Games when they open their qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. They have a two-legged encounter against Chinese Taipei on 8 and 28 October.

The central Asian side delivered a shock by clinching gold in the 1994 tournament as debutants, but since then they have failed to make an impact on the continental stage. That was until they stormed into the last eight of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, where they were only edged out by Bahrain after a penalty shoot-out.

That morale-boosting performance was followed by an even more sensational victory over Iraq in the second qualifying round for Germany 2006, with goals from Maksim Shatskikh and Alexander Geynrikh sending them through to the last eight. Pitted against the likes of Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic in the final qualifying round, they managed a third-placed finish that set up a play-off against Bahrain, who once again advanced at their expense.

After sticking with a foreign-coach policy over three years, which saw German coach Hans Jurgen Gede, Englishman Bob Houghton and Russian Vladimir Nepomniatchi at the helm, Uzbekistan have come full circle, turning to home-grown Rauf Inileev.

The former Uzbekistan Olympic team coach made radical changes to the team, keeping only eight veterans of the 2004 squad while injecting new blood in the shape of five Under-23 players. Despite missing a number of experienced figures, including influential former captain Mirdjalal Kasimov who retired last year, Inileev successfully moulded the new-look team into a strong squad.

Ace striker, Dynamo Kiev hotshot Maksim Shatskikh, is still in his goal-scoring prime and striking prodigy Geynrikh has come of age, developing into the team's lethal weapon particularly when sent on as a super-sub. In the central areas, Server Djeparov has taken over much of the creative duties since Kasimov retired while at the back young Aziz Ibragimov has quickly developed a solid defensive partnership alongside experienced Hayrulla Karimov and Aleksey Nikolaev.

In the qualifying series for the FIFA World Cup, however, Uzbekistan have been imperious, advancing to the fourth round of Asian qualifying after only four matches with a perfect record, inlcuding a 3-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia. Although the Saudis defeated them in the return encounter. In the past 3 rounds, Uzbekistan has managed to score 26 goals, so far it's the best result in World Cup Qualifiers. Uzbekistan will be a team that all the other teams in the Asian final ten will be hoping to avoid.

Asian Cup record

*1956 to 1992 - "Did not enter, was part of USSR"
*1996 - Round 1
*2000 - Round 1
*2004 - Quarterfinals
*2007 - Quarterfinals

Uzbekistan squad

The following players were called up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against Australia on September 10 2008.

Recent Call Up

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Former players

* Bakhtiyor Hamidullaev
* Azamat Abduraimov
* Berdakh Allaniyazov
* Yuri Sheikin
* Murad Aliev
* Igor Shkvyrin
* Ulugbek Ruzimov
* Fevzi Davletov
* Rustam Abdulloev
* Shukhrat Maksudov

ee also

*Uzbekistan Football Federation
*Sport in Uzbekistan

External links

* [http://www.uzfootball.com Uzbekistan Football Federation]
* [http://www.fifa.com/en/organisation/confederations/associationdetails/0,1483,UZB,00.html?countrycode=UZB FIFA profile: Uzbekistan] / [http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/results/resultsdetails/0,2962,,00.html?param7=1&dd=0&param5=ALL&select13=UZB&select14=ALL&radiobutton=ALL Results] / [http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/fixtures/index/0,3721,0-UZB-ALL,00.html Fixtures]
* [http://www.the-afc.com/english/national/default_NA.asp?nationalID=94 AFC profile: Uzbekistan]