Tashkent: Uzbekistan went top of Group H after a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Philippines in their penultimate match in Preliminary Round 2 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers on Thursday lifted the Central Asians above DPR Korea.
Changchun Yatai defender Anzur Islaimov scored the only goal of the match just before the hour-mark in a game that saw the Philippines play the majority of the fixture with with ten men following the 10th minute sending off of Jose Porteria.
Uzbekistan dominated the early exchanges and after Egor Krimets had headed a free-kick over the bar, the Philippines were indebted to Neil Etheridge who held his nerve to deny Igor Sergeev a ninth-minute opener when the Pakhtakor striker - scorer of a brace in the Uzbeks’ 5-1 win over the Azkals in Bocaue City - was clean through on goal with only the Walsall keeper to beat.
Barely a minute later the Philippines were reduced to ten men when Jose Porteria was red-carded for a reckless challenge on Krimets and despite laying siege on the visitors defence for the remainder of the first half Uzbekistan were unable to break the deadlock in the first half thanks to the inspired for of Etheridge, who saved superbly from two-time AFC Player of the Year Server Djeparov, Odil Akhmedov, and Eldor Shomurodov.
China-based centre back Islaimov settled the nerves at the Bunyodkor Stadium when the former Bunyodkor defender headed home a 59th minute cross from Alexander Geynrikh, who came close to doubling the advantage as full time approached only for the 57th-minute substitute to strike the post with four minutes left on the clock.
The victory took Uzbekistan’s points tally to 18, two more than the North Koreans, while the Philippines remain on seven points with one round of Group H matches remaining.
Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up.
The other four runners-up will progress to the third round of qualifying for the Asian Cup, along with all the third-placed teams and the four best fourth-placed teams.
The remaining sides will have to negotiate past two rounds of playoffs for one of the final eight spots in the Asian Cup third qualifying round.
http://www.the-afc.com/asian-cup-2019-2018-world-cup/russia-2018uae-2019-qualifiers-uzbekistan-1-0-philippines
Revamp the PFF. Palitan lahat ng officials. Tama na at Sobra na!!!
ReplyDeleteafter this match, i hope OJ learns his lesson. i've seen the guy live. (i've seen most of them live, and i understand now why james younghusband is no longer in the national team -- because the guy's a diva). the problem is OJ is not exactly one of the cleanest players on the pitch. he had a red card coming. at the higher levels, like a FIFA qualifier, the only way is to play the game -- beautifully.
ReplyDeleteBecause UFL officiating is a big joke!! Philippine Football was based on basketball type of thing in the PBA. Too much physicality is the norm of our kababayans. Remember FIBA World Cup ? Our team was quoted as the dirtiest bunch but it wasn't published by the maiinstream media. This is also the reason why in the UFL it was tolerated by the Officials and I hate it!!! We cannot find a Ronaldinho type of player if Physicality is always allowed and you /we know it...
Deletei don't completely agree. the physicality we see in the UFL is but a reflection of our players' ball handling skills. you're not good enough to keep the ball, you'll resort to dirty tactics. the problem is some players overdo it.
Deleteporteria didn't deserve that red card. ive seen worse only getting verbal warnings.
Deletewe are naturally tenacious. what's negative is that filipinos are weaker on the skill department that's why only our aggressiveness is what's getting highlighted.
DeleteYou are right on the spot. This red card resulted because of clumsy skills. The Ref had no choice but show Porteria the red card.
ReplyDeleteWow that's not a red card. It's a yellow. There was no malice or intent, he simply tried to chase down the defender and unluckily landed on the defenders foot with his studs after stretching to try and block a clearance.
DeleteYou can say what you want about OJ but calling his skill set clumsy or lacking shows you've never watched him closely. He has some of the best feet on the national team.
Bad call from the ref plain and simple over reaction.
revamp the NSA (PFF) won't resolve the issues about red tape.
ReplyDeletekung gusto natin ng revamp dapat boung system sa Pilipinas.
the logical and prangkahang solution is shifting of our system from centralized Unitarian to Federal-Parliamentary.
Government should take over lahat ng full responsibilities ng NSA..pareho-pareho na lang ang problema,alibi and rason ng lahat ng NSA.
dapat ang lahat ng NSA ay under sa Sport Ministry ng gobyerno kaya dapat buwagin ang PSC-POC
dapat palitan na ang mga sports officials but regarding PFF, walang magagawa ang government kundi magmonitor lang kung may ilegal bang nangyayari. may kapangyarihan ang FIFA na isuspend ang federation pag pinakailaman ng gobyerno. remember iraq 2009?
Deletenetminder etheridge improve his game. 1 away goal lang na concede.
ReplyDeletepero azkals play the same since their last home match defeat against visiting Yemen squad.
nasayang talaga yung last home game nila against Yemen.
dahil 3 consecutive defeats hindi talaga maiiwasan ang playoff para mag qualify sa 2019 Asian Cup.
masuwerte na lang minamamalas ang Uzbekistan and 1 goal lang ang na concede ni Etheridge.
kung alam niyo kung anong tinira ni niel paki post na lang. hahaha
Deletegrabe! pinabilib niya talaga ako.
i was so proud of our players. i won't forget how hard they fought that night.
ReplyDelete@march 25 14:17
ReplyDeletemerong magagawa kung revolutionary government ang ipapalit sa current Unitarian state from Imperial Manila.
totalitarian system is proven and tested na kayang pag-isahin ang lahat ng government agencies including NSA (sport federations)
kung palit lang lahat ng officials parang damo lang ang binunot mo hindi kasama ang ugat (system).
palitan ang sistema and full implementation of law.