DOHA: South East Asia’s last representative in the 2023 Asian Cup, Thailand were shown the exit after losing 1-2 to Uzbekistan in yesterday’s second round match at Al Janoub Stadium here.
Thailand played defensively throughout the first half, only venturing upfield to launch quick blitz attacks, which allowed Uzbekistan to dominate the game.
Thailand’s tactics resulted in their losing their clean sheet when Uzbekistan’s Azizbek Turgunboey scored in the 37th minute, tucking in the ball from near the goalmouth to beat Thai keeper Patiwat Khammai,
Uzbekistan had several shots at goal before, in the 18th minute through Oston Urunov and Jaloliddin Masharipov four minutes later.
The Thais were not done with the match yet, but it took them till the second half to actually claw their way back with an equaliser in the 58th minute by Supchock Sarachat, who confidently scored from outside the penalty area, a lovely finish to a beautiful run and short pass play that beat the Uzbek defence.
Uzbekistan turned out to be the better team today and did not take long to pull ahead again, with Abbosbek Fayzullaev fooling the Thai defence to score from the left corner in the 65th minute.
Both teams then spent the remaining match time trying to score, and Thailand was unlucky when Elias Dolah’s header just missed the goal in injury time, allowing the 2-1 result to stand when the final whistle was blown by Malaysian referee Muhammad Nazmi Nasaruddin.
Uzbekistan, coached by Srecko Katanec, are sure to make full use of their fourth quarterfinal appearance against defending champions Qatar this Saturday to try to qualify for the semifinals for the very first time. – BERNAMA
