Uzbekistanis serve up goals galore in Singapore

Story by Jan Lin/Red Sports. Photos by Leslie Tan/Red Sports and Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

National Stadium, Tuesday, June 3, 2008 – Server Djeparov of Uzbekistan scored two goals and assisted in one in a space of 10 minutes in the first half, and that proved to be the key for the visitors to brush aside hosts Singapore 7-3 in their 2010 World Cup Qualifier last night.

The Singapore-Uzbekistan tie was supposed to be a David and Goliath affair and while the rugby-like scoreline reflected that, Uzbekistan were really only dominant for just 10 minutes of the match.

The Lions managed to keep up with the visitors for 80 minutes of the match and that is a commendable feat. If you had not known that Uzbekistan are a force to be reckoned with in Asian football, you would have thought Singapore were their footballing equal, especially in the first half an hour of the match.

A combination of clumsy defense and goalkeeping error might have allowed the visitors to open the game with a 1-0 lead as early as the 10th minute mark, but the host took only 6 minutes to respond when Aleksandar Duric (#9) clinically finished off after a Daniel Bennett thunderbolt shot rebounded off the post and landed right onto his path.

Just 5 minutes later, at the 21st minute mark, another defensive error by the home team allowed Uzbekistan’s Victor Karpenko (#10) to make a fine run through the napping Singapore defense and successfully put his team 2-1 up. At that stage, the Lions did not appear overwhelmed as they continued pressing forward as much as their opponents were.

The Lions were desperately searching for a second equaliser and it came in the form of a penalty in the 31st minute. Daniel Bennett chipped into the path of Khairul Amri and the striker make a diagonal run into the box before he was chopped down. Mustafic Fahrudin (#15) made no mistake from the spot to level at 2-2. Just when the Lions appeared to be giving the 2007 AFC quarterfinalists a good run for their money, the next 10 minutes were all Uzbekistan needed to rewrite the script.

Uzbekistan started to spread their attacks much wider than they already were. If the Lions weren’t able to cope with the earlier attacks coming in from the centre, it was a nightmare having to cope with the opponents coming in from both flanks.

The combination of Uzbekistan’s skipper Maksim Shatskikh (#16) on the right flank and Server Djeparov (#8) on the left tormented Singapore and they also received plenty of assistance from the erratic Singapore defense last night.

In the 34th minute, Shatskikh’s pace left Baihakki Khaizan (#3) trailing on the right flank and he sent a cross into the centre of the box after Lion’s keeper Lionel Lewis (#18) had committed himself by coming out. Singapore’s Mohamad Noh Rahman (#5) then rushed in to intercept the ball but made a mess of the clearance. All he succeeded in doing was killing the pace of the ball, leaving it sitting there invitingly just before the goal line. Uzbekistan’s Server conveniently rushed forward to tuck home his first goal of the night.

The next 10 minutes was all Uzbekistan needed to pull away and set themselves a class apart from the Lions.

Having regained the lead, Uzbekistan began to ruthlessly exposed the host’s defense with a series of clever combinations. A back-heel from Timur Kapadze (#18) on the right was well-received by Server in the center, who then fed the ball accurately to his left for Vitaliy Denisov (#7), who was racing down the left flank, to net goal number four for Uzbekistan in the 42nd minute.

Two minutes later, Server completed his rout with a perfectly-executed corner kick that curled right into a corner of the net over the arms of Lionel Lewis to ensure that the Uzbekistanis would walk off at half-time with a 5-2.

For neutrals, the goal-scoring happily continued. Uzbekistan scored their sixth in the 62nd minute through the fresh legs, or head for that matter, of substitute Aziz Ibragimov (#4), when his header beat Lewis’ mistimed jump to extend the visitors lead to an unsightly 6-2.

With a comfortable lead, the visitors were now spending more time receiving treatment from the medical staff than having the ball at their feet, while the Lions continued to press on but with less penetrative effect as the minutes ticked away in the second half.

Singapore then made two key changes in the final 15 minutes of the match – Juma’at Jantan (#13) for Mohamad Noh Rahman (#5) in the 72nd minute and Muhammad Ridhuan Muhamad (#2) for Mohammad Shahril Ishak (#17) in the 76th – that increased the depth of the attacking force.

Within a minute of the introduction of Juma’at Jantan, Chinese-borne striker Qiu Li (#11) smashed a superb shot that hit the post. John Wilkinson (#14), who was sharp all night, was first to the rebound to claim a goal he deserved.

But even then, the Uzbekistanis still had a reply when their skipper Shatskikh rounded Lionel Lewis to claim the seventh for his team in the 88th minute to leave Singaporean fans shaking their heads.

Uzbekistan’s coach, Rauf Inileev, was quick to identify at the post-match press conference that the Lions were in fact a tough nut to crack. Rauf said, “Singapore was not an easy opponent for Uzbekistan. They showed that they have prepared very well for this match.”

“Our plan coming to Singapore was not to score so many goals. Our plan for the away game is just to play our best game and my players played well because they really wanted the 3 points and that is the most important.

“We played very openly today. Both teams had a great desire to score. When both teams come with a desire to score goals, there is the opportunity for the game to be very good and be a high-scoring one like today’s.”

Rauf was also pleased with the conditions of the pitch last night and considered Singapore’s striker Aleksandar Duric (#9) as the most threatening player to Uzbekistan. Rauf revealed, “Even though he [Duric] is over 35 and may not be able to maintain his speed throughout the whole game, he was still a very dangerous player to us.”

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