JEDDAH, 27 March 2008 — Uzbekistan were the deserved winners as they coasted to an easy 3-0 win over four-time World Cup qualifiers Saudi Arabia yesterday. Goals from Timur Kapadze, Maksim Shatskikh and Server Djeparov secured the three points for the home side in Tashkent much to the delight of the crowd.
The Saudis seemed underestimate their opponents as in the first 15 minutes they hardly touched the ball and the Uzbeks moved the ball around the pitch very efficiently.
Their strikers were causing the Saudi defense many problems with their movement. National team goalkeeper Tayseer Al-nteef was called into action on the 21st minute to make an acrobatic save to keep the scores level. The first main chance came against the run of play to Saudi. A long ball up field started a race between the Uzbek keeper and Hilal striker Yasser Al-Qahtani. Both collided leaving the keeper in no man’s land with the ball being played into the box. Malik Mauaz was not able to stir his header in as it hit a thankful Uzbek defender. Shortly afterwards Qahtani was taken off with injury. The ice was broken at the beginning of injury time in the first half from a corner that caused confusion in the box. The second half started just like the first half with the home team dominating and the Green Falcons playing without any confidence. The match was lost in the space of a few minutes. As the Saudis pushed forward in search of an equalizer they were leaving the back exposed on the counter with lots of space.
Maksim Shatskikh cooly curled the ball in into the back of the net. Minutes later the defense destroyed the Saudi team’s last hopes by giving away a penalty that Server Djeparov duly put away.
Schwarzer Saves Australia; Oman
Strike Early to Dent Thai Hopes
In Bangkok, Mark Schwarzer’s late penalty save helped an injury-hit Australia scrape a point away to China yesterday.
Schwarzer looked to have cost the Socceroos the match when he brought down Qu Bo in the area, but he instantly made amends by stopping Shao Jiayi’s spot kick to keep Australia top of the Group 1 standings.
Playing at high-altitude in Kunming, China paid the price for their failure in front of goal, with Zhu Ting squandering several chances against an Australia team depleted by injuries to their European-based players. “To lose that match to a late penalty would have been a disaster for us because I thought we deserved to get something out of the game,” Schwarzer told Australian television.
“When you look at the preparation we’ve had it’s an amazing result.”
Bosnian-born striker Aleksandar Duric scored his third qualifying goal to help Singapore see off Lebanon 2-0 in the other Group 4 match.
Duric, 37, scored twice on his debut in the 3-1 second stage aggregate victory over Tajikistan, opened the scoring in the seventh minute after capitalizing on some poor Lebanese defending.
Midfielder Fazrul Nawaz then doubled the home side’s advantage, effectively sealing the game after 24 minutes.
South Korea were held to a surprise draw by archrivals North Korea in a politically-charged Group 3 qualifier played in Shanghai after a row over flags and national anthems.
The draw humbled South Korea, Asia’s most successful World Cup team, but the point was enough to stay top on goal difference ahead of their northern rivals.
Turkmenistan were beaten 2-0 at home by Jordan in the other Group 3 game.
Oman struck after just 26 seconds to condemn Thailand to their second successive defeat and all but rule out their chance of reaching their first World Cup.
Seconds after the kick off, Ismail Al Ajmi broke free in the area to convert a right-wing cross to defeat a resilient Thai side who failed to find the net in more than a dozen clear-cut chances. The visitors soaked up 89 minutes of constant pressure from the Thais, with Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi fending off a barrage of attacks from strikers Teerathep Winothai and Teerasin Dangda.
The defeat left Thailand bottom of Group 2 after opening with two defeats while Oman have joined second-placed Japan on three points. Bahrain top the group with six points after beating Japan 1-0 in Manama yesterday.
In the all-Middle East Group 5, part-timers Syria earned a 1-1 draw with Gulf champions the United Arab Emirates.
The draw gave the Emirates four points in Group E while Syria settled for its second draw in as many games. Syria delighted a home crowd of 40,000 at Al-Abbasiyeen Stadium in Damascus, including Prime Minister Naji Al-Otari, by taking the lead in third minute when Ziad Shabo converted off a pass from teammate Firas Ismail. But Mater’s equalizer in the 56th drew the sides even and Shabo’s attempt for a winner hit the post in the 79th minute.
—With input from agencies
