Referee Toshimitsu Yoshida then mistakenly gives Bahrain a free-kick instead of ordering the retake of the penalty as he should have according to FIFA rules, not too much is made of the incident and the game fizzles out into a solid 1-0 home win. In the 39th minute Uzbekistan were awarded a penalty which was slotted away by Djaparov giving them,what they thought,would be a two goal lead, the penalty however was ruled out for encroachment. The hosts raced into an early lead and were in control of what looked like it could be a fairly comfortable tie. Around Djeparov there is a solid mix of experience and quality including Dynamo Kyiv star and all time top scorer Maksim Shatskikh as well as midfield organiser Timur Kapadze. The home side have a strong squad by this point Server Djeparov - the country's best ever player, two-time Asian footballer of the year (08’ and 11), the creative midfielder spent his whole career in Asia earning some incredibly lucrative contracts and in doing so, leads the side. Uzbekistan are hosting Bahrain in the first leg of their World Cup Playoff, the winner just to get past a two-legged tie against Trinidad and Tobago (population 1.3 million), an unbelievable opportunity for one of the two Asian countries to qualify. Similar to the ‘bottle-job’ tag that follows Tottenham around, only from this point in Uzbekistan's failures became more and more bizarre. What could have easily been reflected on as a valiant effort is instead now looked back on as the first of many ‘chokes’. At this stage Uzbekistan still didn’t have any players who you would expect to lead a nation to a World Cup group stage, after cruising through the first stages, stronger opposition such as Japan and UAE bullied the Uzbeks out at the final group stage. The side’s first attempt at World Cup qualification was for the 1998 tournament hosted in France. Mass acknowledgment that Uzbekistan were already as good as most European sides lead to a complete lack of investment from the federation over the next decade. Astonishingly this is still Uzbekistan’s most recent success.Īs is so often the case for smaller nations in the international game, the success of 1994 can be firmly categorised as a proverbial poison chalice. The celebrations rolled on back in Tashkent where the team returned as the first icons of National independence. A crushing 4-1 win meant Gold for Uzbekistan, an unimaginable achievement for the newly formed nation, thousands of Japanese fans had taken to the side with huge attendances at both the semi final and the final. Playing an expansive 4-3-3 system with a squad almost entirely based in Uzbekistan, the surprise package edged past Japan and South Korea to reach the final against China.
Stunningly Uzbekistan steam-rolled their way through the group stage, as a completely unknown quantity, they rocked the entire Asian football scene with a series of thrashings against Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Thailand. Unpopular Uzbek coach Rustam Akmarov had a budget of just £10,000 to sort everything out, so Akramov decided to bring just 17 players, 2 coaches and a doctor to Japan which was deemed laughable compared to their group stage opponents. The Asian games (an olympic-style event just for Asian countries) was taking place in Hiroshima, the favourites for the tournament were the hosts Japan, closely followed by a strong South Korean side. Just two years after becoming a fully fledged independent national team, what is now known as the ‘The Miracle of 1994’ took place. It all started so promisingly for The White Wolves. Picture the Netherlands disastrous 2018 qualifying campaign, England's ‘Wally with the Brolly’ and Thierry Henry’s handball in Paris all rolled into one nation's history. Uzbekistan’s story is one of heartbreak, scandal, mismanagement and just plain and simple bad luck. This landlocked nation, has a population of 31 million and is largely known for its historical sites, that being said the country is hardly ‘known’ at all. There has however been one shining beacon of hope a team that have constantly promised so much but delivered so little Uzbekistan. For various reasons the nations have struggled since, despite being a relatively peaceful region in comparison to their neighbours, lack of financial income through tourism, poorly run administrations and abandoned transport networks across some of the world's most difficult geography, are just a few of the reasons Central Asia has not been fulfilling its potential.Īs a result Central Asian football has struggled since. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, the region was separated into five different countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. No central Asian team has ever qualified for the FIFA World Cup.