The Uzbekistan youth team was defeated by Japan in the final of the Asian U-23 Football Championship, which took place from April 15 to May 3 in Qatar. The match, which took place on May 3 in Doha, ended with a score of 1:0.
Earlier, the UFA reported that defender Abdukodir Khusanov, midfielders Khodjimat Erkinov and Abbosbek Fayzullaev won’t play in the final of the tournament and are returning to their clubs: French Lens, Emirati Al-Wahda and Russian CSKA. The organization and the clubs agreed that the players would go to the tournament to complete the main task – getting a ticket to the Olympics. They completed this task, so the youth team released the players to their clubs.
The only goal in the match was scored in 90+1 minutes. The Uzbek team lost the ball in the center of the field, Japan U-23 organized a quick counterattack, which was completed by Fuki Yamada with an accurate shot from outside the penalty area.
At 90+7’ the referee awarded a penalty in favor of Uzbekistan, but the Japanese goalkeeper was able to parry Umarali Rakhmonaliev’s shot into the left corner.
Thus, Japan became the champion of the U-23 Asian Cup, and the Uzbekistan youth team took second place, which allowed it to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in history.
