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Cricket lovers often say that a positive aspect of the global cricket fraternity (small as it is) is that it brings Australia closer to countries that ordinarily it may not have a lot to do with, such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the Caribbean.
Clearly this applies even more so to football, not just across the world, but within the Asian Confederation itself – to which we now belong as its newest member.
During the Asian Cup qualifiers we played against Bahrain, and in our very first game of the Asian Cup last year, we played against another gulf nation, Oman.
With a little bit of luck either way, we could well have met Uzbekistan in the semi-final.
Come again … Uzbekistan?
Seeing that on September 10 the Socceroos will find themselves in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, for its first game in the next phase of the Asian qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, I thought I would assist readers in learning something about our newest of sporting rivals.
Uzbekistan is one of half a dozen or so countries in central Asia that once belonged to the Soviet Union; so it is a relatively newish country in modern political terms. It borders Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south.
The interesting aspect about Uzbekistan is that, despite the fact that few Australians know much about it, Uzbekistan has much in common with Australia on so many levels.
AFC membership
Uzbekistan has been in the AFC since around 1994, and as such it is a relative new comer.
Having had very close links with Russia for well over a century, and being on the north-western periphery of the region, in at least one sense, Uzbekistan shares with Australia that tiny lingering doubt that perhaps it does not quite fit in, or even worse, is unwelcome.
Given that both countries add enormously to what already is the most spread out and varied Confederation of all, one hopes that both these perceptions (understandable or otherwise) will soon die a natural death.
Football/Asian Cup performance
In the World football rankings, Australia is currently 38 while Uzbekistan is 55.
My guess is that both countries are going to be battling for similar spots up the table for a long time to come (hopefully higher up than where they both are now!)
In watching Uzbekistan play its opening game in the Asian Cup, against Iran, I was first struck by how “European” the team looked.
As mentioned above, Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union, and to this day retains close links to Russia and Eastern Europe (where most of its players earn their living).
Uzbekistan’s style of play can also be described as East European, combining intelligent tactical play and positioning with a robust physical presence.
Interestingly, its captain, Maksim Shatskikh, who plays for Dynamo Kiev, is a behemoth centre forward who dominates the opposition third. Strong in the air, but also quite adept with the ball at his feet, he is not only a goal scorer, he is quite capable of bringing team mates into the game and setting up goals.
Does that remind you of anyone?
Alas, the footballing similarities with Uzbekistan end right there.
I believe they were far more consistent than Australia during the Asian Cup and were extremely unlucky not to progress to the semi finals.
They lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in the quarter final, after hitting the woodwork five times during the game and being the subject of the worst off-side call I have seen in a long time.
Shatskikh scored from close range when the keeper spilled the ball. Replays show clearly that he was at least three metres onside when his team mate had the first strike on goal, and that there were three defenders in front of him!
The Uzbekistan vs Saudi quarter-final was perhaps the game of the tournament. Uzbekistan’s attacking game was a joy to watch.
They dominated the first half in their opening game against Iran, leading 1-0 at half time, but they clearly suffered in the conditions the longer the game went, and Iran was able to score twice in the second half to take the points.
Uzbekistan then smashed Malaysia 5-0, before defeating China 3-0, a game they had to win to proceed.
Two Uzbeki plays of the day
There were two particularly interesting Uzbeki attacking moves in the first half of the quarter-final loss to Saudi Arabia.
1. This play started around the top of the D when Saudi Arabia was already one goal up, and the Uzbekis were facing a packed Saudi defence. From the top of the D, a rapid succession of short passes to the right found Shatskikh further inside the box at a bit of an angle. He was quickly closed down. But rather than strike it, he found yet another team mate immediately to his right who stung the Saudi keeper with a great strike. The pleasing aspect of this play was that, faced with so many defenders, the Uzbekis still manufactured a decent shot on goal.
2. One of the most exciting moves of that first half was towards the end of it when Shatskikh had the ball at one end of the Saudi box. Almost instinctively, he lobbed it over the defence to the other side of the box where, seemingly from nowhere, the left back, Denisov, thundered in, met it at pace, hit it sweetly on the half-volley, and kept the ball one metre above the ground and as it flashed past the far post.
If it had gone in, it would have been the goal of the tournament.
Once again it showed a great understanding between team mates, and Shatskikh’s capacity to bring others into the game.
I can assure you all, there’s a potential rivalry here just waiting to be sparked!
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