Doha, Qatar: Srecko Katanec paid tribute to his players for overcoming obstacles on and off the pitch after Uzbekistan defeated Thailand to reach the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Illness ruled Otabek Shukurov out just before the tie at the Al Janoub Stadium, further crippling an Uzbekistan squad missing key players through injury but that didn’t stop the White Wolves from carving out a 2-1 win, thanks to goals from Azizbek Turg’unboyev and Abbosbek Fayzullaev with defending champions Qatar their quarter-final opponents on Saturday.
“Congratulations to the players because they did a good job, I hope we made the fans happy,” said Katanec.
“First half we should have scored more goals from the chances we created which could have made the second half easier. If we miss that many chances in the coming game, it would be difficult to go forward.
“When we arrived today, we had some problems with illness. We missed Shukurov because he’s ill. We have many injuries as well. But we performed well and the players did their job.”
The former Iraq and United Arab Emirates head coach was pleased with the performance of Diyor Kholmatov, who made his AFC Asian Cup debut with the Pakhtakor FC midfielder playing the entire match.
Kholmatov had only played one senior international match prior, a friendly against Kyrgyz Republic in December, but the 21-year-old showed maturity and capped his performance by assisting Turg’unboyev’s opening goal.
“Diyor played a very good game. He picked up a lot of second balls which is why we were better in the first half because we won a lot of second balls which helped us to push.
“He played great, technically very good, and can run a lot. Nice future. We have four players from the new generation and they are all in the starting XI. There is good quality but they need to go step by step because this is a different level to the Under-23s.”
Thailand’s exit meant they could not surpass their UAE 2019 record but can be pleased with their tournament, having defeated Vietnam as well as holding Oman and Saudi Arabia in the group stage.
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Supachok Sarachat’s equaliser early in the second half gave the Thais hope, only for Fayzullaev to strike the winner seven minutes later, but head coach Masatada Ishii was pleased with his team’s effort.
“We are sad about the exit,” said the Japanese tactician. “The players played their hearts out but it wasn’t to be. Now we will regroup and see what’s next for us.
“There are many things that we have to fix for the future. The coaches have informed the players on what they need to do when they go back to their clubs so that when we gather again, there will be some improvement which hopefully puts us in a strong position for the World Cup qualifiers.”
