Uzbekistan seals footballing dream with World Cup qualification
Uzbekistan are heading to next year's World Cup for the first time in the country's history, a feat that caps years of progress in a part of the world not known for its footballing prowess.
The Central Asian nation qualified for football's premier international tournament on Thursday thanks to a 0-0 draw with the United Arab Emirates -- enough to seal the achievement with one game to spare.
"I cannot convey my feelings. I am very, very happy -- for the first time in 34 years the Uzbekistan national team has reached the World Cup," Otabek Khaydarov, a 36-year-old entrepreneur told AFP in Tashkent after the final whistle.
Ex-Soviet Uzbekistan started competing as an independent nation in the 1990s, following the break-up of the USSR.
Footage shared on social media showed the players, draped in national flags, mobbing coach Timur Kapadze in the press room after the game.
The expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams has given traditional outsiders, like Uzbekistan, the chance to break into the top ranks of world football.
But their success is not just down to a larger World Cup.
Uzbekistan is one of Asia's fastest developing footballing nations.
And across Central Asia, the sport is in the ascendancy -- backed by state funding and growing popularity in a region where combat sports traditionally reign supreme.
Ravshan Khaydarov, the coach of Uzbekistan's under-23 national team, said qualification is the result of "a long-term effort".
"Presidential decrees adopted to reform football five or six years ago marked the beginning of a process that is still ongoing," he told AFP on the sidelines of a match in Tashkent, ahead of the crunch game against UAE.
The construction of new stadiums and training centres, sometimes with FIFA's support, has been crucial, he said.
- State affair -
Such backing from the top is essential in a region dominated by autocratic regimes.
In both Uzbekistan and neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, the national football federations are controlled by powerful secret service chiefs.
On the pitch, Uzbekistan's charge to the tournament -- to be staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico -- was led by the star trio of centre back Abdukodir Khusanov, striker Eldor Shomurodov and winger Abbosbek Fayzullaev.
Khusanov, who moved to Manchester City in a reported $45-million deal earlier this year, has become a national hero at home.
Bootleg jerseys featuring his name and number are available at bazaars across the landlocked country.
Footballing bosses are confident the success of Khusanov and Shomurodov, who plays for Roma in Italy, can be replicated.
More than a third of the country's 35 million people are under the age of 20 -- a huge talent pool waiting to be coached.
"It is important to have a systemic approach to identifying talent and selecting the best players who will become famous. The world will know Uzbekistan thanks to our national team," said coach Khaydarov.
"Our dream is to see Uzbek players in the best European clubs."
- 'Creativity' -
The country has already had glory at the youth level, recently winning the Asian U17 and U20 Cups and qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
"The strength of Uzbek football lies in the combination of play, technique, passing and attacking," said Azamat Abduraimov, a former player and now coach.
"Uzbek football has always been renowned for its creativity. We have always had good strikers and creative, technical midfielders. But we lacked success because we were weak in defence," he added.
Centre-back Khusanov, who Abduraimov coached as a teenager, has helped address that balance.
Many see 21-year-old winger Fayzullaev, who plays for CSKA Moscow and was voted Asia's best young player in 2023, as the next Uzbek in line for a big money move to Europe.
His playing style has been compared to star Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who just won the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain.
For the national team, qualifying for next year's World Cup brings a new set of challenges.
Uzbekistan has never played an international match against a top European side, and most of its young talent still lack experience on the biggest stages.
In Tashkent, supporter Otabek was relishing the step up.
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