AFC Asian Cup: India’s plan against Uzbekistan: Hold fort, launch sorties
After a resolute Indian defensive display was broken down by the Aussies in their opener of the AFC Asian Cup, coach Igor Stimac will need that same tenacity shown in the first half, in addition to a few attacking inputs from his players, as India takes on Uzbekistan in their second Group B encounter. A loss would mean exiting yet another Asian Cup at the group stages, a draw would leave them at the behest of other results and only a win can keep their hopes of moving onto the Round-of-16 alive.
If Australia is a tough team to beat in Asia, Uzbekistan is no different. Ranked 68th in the world, the Uzbeks are age group wizards at the Asian football level, showing their best from the U17-U23 levels and only usually succumb at AFC-level tournaments to the likes of Japan. Their senior national team narrowly lost to Australia in the previous Asian Cup on penalties and many believe that the central Asian giants will occupy one of the eight slots that the continent has for the 2026 World Cup.
India would have found the going tough against the Uzbeks as it is, but their opponents’ opening goalless draw to Syria has put pressure on their backs to get a positive result, with their last group game being against Australia. The only possible silver lining for India is that just like there are missing four crucial players who make the spine of the team, Uzbekistan are missing their star striker in Eldor Shomurodov.
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