Uzbekistan visits Saitama

After successive losses to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Australia in which they were out-scored 8-0, a troubled Uzbekistan visits Saitama Stadium to face the Nippon Daihyo. Hungry for a victory, Uzbekistan will be throwing the attack forward in a attempt to revitalize their World Cup hopes.

Manager Takeshi Okada has his squad prepared and looking to build upon their 3-2 victory over Bahrain in the opening match. With Group Four packed with quality clubs Qatar and Australia and automatic qualification for the World Cup for the top two clubs, a victory at home is crucial. In discussing the match, Takeshi Okada noted to FIFA:

“The Uzbekistan game is our second match, but it doesn’t matter whether we won or lost the game before it. We will just focus on the match in front of us and do whatever we have to do to win it.”

In addition to rekindling their qualifying hopes, Uzbekistan won’t forget the 8-1 destruction at the hands of Japan in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and will be eager for revenge. The well financed Uzbekistan Footballing community is committed to success and should be keenly watched by fans throughout the world. Success stories as in the Zico-led FC Bunyodkor run through the AFC Champions League is only the first obvious public signs and similar results in the national program will follow in time. Following the national teams two most recent defeats, the Uzbekistan Football Association called upon the legendary Mirdjalol Kasimov and former Bunyodkor manager to lead them to qualification. Echoing confidence, Mirabror Usmanov, Uzbekistan Football Association President noted: “We lost the two games but I think we can still manage to qualify.”

Takeshi Okada is more than aware that the Uzbekistan squad is capable of playing at the upper levels and not taking the match lightly:

“The Uzbekistan game is our second match and we must take it as a must-win. We need put the previous results against them behind us and focus on this match.”

In selecting the squad he has called upon veterans Junichi Inamoto of Eintracht Frankfurt, Makoto Hasebe of VfL Wolfsburg and Celtic’s Shunsuke Nakamura to lead the assault. In last weeks Kirin Challenge Cup friendly against the United Arab Emirates which ended in a 1-1 draw, Takeshi Okada experimented with numerous younger developing players and had noteworthy results including nineteen year-old Shinji Kagawa of Cerezo Osaka becoming the third-youngest goal-scorer for Japan. While finishing certainly lacked as Japan had numerous opportunities to score the winner, it was a very positive pre-match tune-up.