Spirited show by Uzbekistan

A last minute goal capped a spirited come back for the Uzbeks as they beat Japan 2-1 in Group three of the ongoing Asian Under-17 Football Championship.

The match was mainly defensive with both teams applying the 4:4:2 formation and showing a reluctance to advance to attack their opponents which led to the play being mostly confined to the midfield.

It was a strange scene that all 20 players of both the teams were chasing the ball within only 20 meters around the centre of the field leaving large spaces between them and their custodians at both ends of the ground.

Japan took the first initiative when they launched some shy attacking moves on the right flank through their dynamic wingback, Takashi Amano.

One such move resulted in their only goal when Amano crossed and the Uzbeks' defence was slow to clear the ball from inside their penalty area only for Tatsuya Okamoto to score, 29 minutes into the match.

Japan should have gone further ahead when Amano crossed again from the right flank but his colleague Shunsuke Maeda, the left wingback, shot wide off an open goal with the Uzbek custodian, Tadjibaev Eldor outside his line, eight minutes before the break.

The Uzbeks resumed the play determined to change the result and they took the field by storm with their striker Abdullayev Sadriddin squandering a sitter in the first minute of the second half following a cross from Denisov Vitally.

It was evident that it was only a matter of time before Uzbekistan scored a goal. Their second attacking move proved successful as their captain Shorakhmedov Akmal was brought down inside the box by Takuya Yamamoto in the second minute after the interval only for referee Noor Azman Nordin of Malaysia to award the Uzbeks a penalty which Bikmoev Marat converted for the equaliser.

The two teams deserted their cautious approach and exchanged attacks with both of them losing easy chances specially Japan's Maeda who with only the Uzbek custodian to beat shot weakly into his hands from inside the box, 21 minutes into the second half.

The match was heading to a tie when the Uzbeks earned a corner kick which was sent high by Muradov Aziz and their lanky striker Djatodyev Daut headed home sending his team into jubilations as the referee whistle announced the end of the match with his team winning the valuable three points.