6.02.2012
Football West News
The Qantas Australian U23s hopes of the qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games hang in the balance after losing 0-2 to Uzbekistan in their AFC Asian Qualifier for the 2012 London Games match played at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent yesterday.
Due to extreme temperatures the kick-off time for the match was moved from 8pm to 3pm yesterday, but with the mercury around -12 C it was of little comfort to the players.
The Qantas Australian U23s started strong with Mate Dugandzic and captain Oliver Bozanic each having shots on target in the opening ten minutes.
But with a snow covered, frozen pitch making passing and touches difficult, it was never going to be a free flowing, technical game of football.
Uzbekistan took the lead in the 27th minute when Oybek Kilichev set up Kenja Turaev who hit a long range shot giving Mat Ryan no chance of saving.
Soon after Jason Hoffman looked to have an equaliser for the Qantas Australian U23s but was adjudged to have scored from an offside position.
The second half saw both teams create opportunities at both ends but the quality of the build-up play and finishing was severely hampered by the pitch conditions.
Just after the hour mark Mitch Nichols also seemed to have netted an equaliser, but his attempt was denied after the referee blew for an infringement in the box in the lead up to the goal.
Oleg Zoteev sealed the result for the Uzbeks in the 85th minute with a sublime volley from outside the box which hit the underside of the crossbar and went into the net.
In the other Group B match the United Arab Emirates (UAE) defeated Iraq 1-0 to move into second place of Group B.
The Qantas Australian Under 23s will now return to Dubai to prepare for their next AFC Asian Qualifier for the 2012 London Games match against the UAE on the 22 February. As part of their preparations for that match they will play an international friendly match against the Philippines at the Al Nasr Stadium on Thursday 16 February (Kick-Off 8pm local, 3am AEDT).
Match Details
Uzbekistan 2 (Kenja Turaev 27', Oleg Zoteev 85')
Qantas Australian U-23s 0
JAR Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Sunday, 5 November 2011
Referee: Abdullah BALOUSHI (QATAR)
Assistant Referees: Ramzan Saeed M A AL-NAEMI (QATAR) & Taleb Salem H A AL-MARRI (QATAR)
Fourth Official: Khamis Mohammed AL MARRI (QATAR)
Crowd: 4,527
Uzbekistan U23s line-up: 12.Sanjar KUVVATOV (gk), 2.Akbarjon ISMATULLAEV (15.Amanov BOBIRJON 69'), 3.Abdukakhkhor KHODJIAKBAROV, 4.Salim MUSTAFAEV, 5.Islom TUHTAHOJAEV, 7.Oybek KILICHEV, 8.Sherzodbek KARIMOV (c) (16.Jasur HASANOV 74'), 9.Kenja TURAEV, 11.Abdukhaliqov TEMURKHODJA (17.Ivan NAGAEV 37'), 13.Oleg ZOTEEV, 18.Fozil MUSAEV
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Akbar TURAEV, 6.Dilshod RAHMATULLAEV, 10.Javlon IBROKHIMOV, 14.Zokhir PIRIMOV
Head Coach: Vadim Abramov (UZB)
Yellow Cards: Ivan Nagaev 50', Jasur Hasanov 90+2'
Red Cards: Nil
*WA players in bold
Qantas Australian U-23s line-up: 1.Mathew RYAN (gk), 2.Matthew FOSCHINI, 3.Sebastian RYALL (12.Daniel MULLEN 69'), 4.Matthew JURMAN, 5. Aziz BEHICH, 6.Oliver BOZANIC (c), 7.Mate DUGANDZIC, 8.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 9.Jason HOFFMAN, 10.Mitch NICHOLS, 11.Rocco VISCONTE (17.Kerem BULUT 76')
Substitutes not used: 13.Antony GOLEC, 14.Mustafa AMINI, 15.Diogo FERREIRA, 16.Isaka CERNAK, 18.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk)
Head Coach: Aurelio Vidmar (AUS)
Yellow Cards: Mitch Nichols 81'.
Red Cards: Nil
