Abramov praises Uzbek squad

Uzbekistan manager Vadim Abramov thanked his players after they qualified on top of Group A in the Asian Cup on Sunday.

A thrilling 2-2 draw with China ensured the Uzbeks would finish with seven points from their three group games, booking them a place in the quarter-finals of Asia’s premier soccer competition.

Uzbekistan impressively fought back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 but were denied a third victory in succession when Hao Junmin struck a sensational free-kick to ensure both sides would share the spoils.

“The first round has finished, we’re top of the group, it was a great game and I think everybody is happy,” Abramov said.

“I want to thank my players because they played very well in the group games. The result was satisfactory for us, which is why we played more defensively today.”

Abramov rejected the suggestion from China assistant coach Fu Bo that Uzbekistan were lucky, instead pointing the finger at his side’s failure to convert their many chances in front of goal.

“I don’t think we were lucky,” he said.

“We played very well and had many chances to score, for example when (Maksim) Shatskikh could not score in the opening minutes.”

Abramov’s side will face Japan, Jordan or Syria in the last eight but the boss is not concerned about any of his potential opponents.

“I don’t care who we play in the next round. We don’t choose any team because all the teams in the next round will be very strong,” he said.

While Abramov believed his side deserved a draw, Fu did not agree, feeling his side had made claims for all three points.

“First of all I have to say today the match is a great match, on behalf of all the staff I want to say thanks to my players, they did very well today,” Fu said.

“They tried their best but maybe just a few details and a bit of bad luck cost us the game today.”

Fu also said the Asian Cup experience would prove invaluable ahead of their bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

“Since this team got together, we have been focusing on qualifying for the World Cup. Now we end our journey in the Asian Cup but we have played three different matches and have had three different results. They were very good practice for our young players,” he said.

“I think our team did very well in this Asian Cup and got great experience but the result shows that we need to do a lot of work in the future.”