In the past 10 meetings, the Uzbekistan team is Qatar's nemesis, winning 8 times. Coach Srecko Katanec's students also showed beautiful attacking football and are one of the teams with the strongest attack in the 2023 Asian Cup. On the opposite side, the Qatar team just had a "close call" match against Palestine in the round of 16. Therefore, experts say the Qatar team will face many difficulties.
The Qatar team's confidence in winning comes from the fact that they will continue to play at Al Bayt Stadium with nearly 69,000 fans. In addition, coach Tintin Marquez has the strongest squad in his team. Meanwhile, the Uzbekistan team is missing their number 1 center back, Abdukodir Khusanov, due to suspension.
Host team Qatar has not shown convincing performance at Asian Cup 2023
While the Uzbekistan team is the nemesis of the Qatar team.
With the importance of the quarter-final match, both Uzbekistan and Qatar chose to play a tight game. There were no notable moves in the first 20 minutes of the match. Akram Afif and Almoez Ali were still the inspiration for Qatar's attack with their wide movement and fast play. In the 21st minute, the duo almost made a highlight after a beautiful combination on the left wing.
In the midst of the deadlock, the Qatar team unexpectedly received a “gift” from the Uzbekistan goalkeeper. In the 26th minute, from a throw-in on the right wing, Almoez Ali made a delicate backheel pass to Hassan Al Haidos. The Qatar player wearing the number 10 jersey dribbled down the sideline and actually crossed the ball. It seemed like nothing happened, but goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov pushed the ball straight into the net.
Qatar team opened the score after the opponent's goalkeeper's mistake
Compared to previous matches, the Uzbekistan team played in a less cohesive manner. Coach Srecko Katanec's players did not coordinate in the middle but often pushed the ball to the left wing. The most anticipated star, Abbosbek Fayzullaev, was also completely absent in the first half. It was not until the 36th minute that the Uzbekistan team had their first chance, but Oston Urunov shot straight at a Qatar defender in front of an empty goal.
At the end of the first half, if it weren't for the brilliance of goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov, Uzbekistan's net would have shaken a second time after a close-range header by centre-back Almahdi Ali Mukhtar.
Abbosbek Fayzullaev (white shirt) was marked and the Uzbekistan team was deadlocked in the first half.
In the second half, Uzbekistan made adjustments and completely changed their appearance. The players in white played proactively and opportunities continuously appeared. In the 51st minute, Jaloliddin Masharipov sent a warning to the Qatar team's goal with a classy shot from more than 30 meters away. Goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham flew helplessly but the ball went just wide.
In the 59th minute, Odiljon Hamrobekov received the ball in the middle, he had a classy press and shot accurately with his left foot to equalize the score 1-1.
Odiljon Hamrobekov equalized for Uzbekistan with a beautiful left-footed shot
After Uzbekistan's equalizer, the match continued to be a tug-of-war. The two teams did not have many opportunities, but instead, there were constant clashes in the middle of the field. Therefore, this match had 12 minutes of injury time - the most injury time since the beginning of the 2023 Asian Cup. In the 10th minute of injury time, Akram Afif almost could have ended the match if his classy curling shot had not gone wide.
There were not many changes in the extra time. Therefore, the match had to go to the penalty shootout. In the tense "shootout", the excellence of goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham with 3 saves helped Qatar win 3-2, thereby winning the last ticket to play in the semi-finals. He had some unimaginable saves and was also lucky with the opponent's final kick. The opposing player was under too much pressure and took the penalty kick, right in Barsham's position so he didn't have to waste any effort to push the ball away.
Akram Afif celebrates emotionally
Qatar's semi-final opponent will be Iran - the team that defeated Japan 2-1 in the previous quarter-final match. The semi-final will take place at 10pm on February 7 at Al Thumama Stadium.
The other semi-final is between Jordan and South Korea.
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