Turkmenistan and Indonesia faced off in the opener of a tossup series with no real favorite. Turkmenistan were looking to grab an advantage in their home leg in hot and steamy Ashgabat today, especially with Indonesia's starting midfielder Tony Sucipto missing the match with passport troubles. Turkmenistan were the team that opened the goalscoring on the day. This goal came in the first quarter hour, but visiting Indonesia wanted no part of a loss. At the half four mark, Indonesia equalized to make the game 1-1.The second half was hard fought as seen by the seven cards shown in the final sixteen minutes of the match. Turkmenistan lost a man to a red card (Artur Gevorkyan), but it was no matter to the result. The field was in poor condition and Indonesia could not find a second goal. The 1-1 result sets up a wonderful second leg in Indonesia in five days.
Lebanon, in spite of recently being thrashed in three friendlies this month (6-0 home to Kuwait, 1-0 home to Oman, 6-2 at United Arab Emirates) were the clear favorites coming into their first match against Bangladesh, especially considering that the scene was Beirut. The draw was kind to the floundering Cedars, who repaid the draw gods for their reprieve but taking advantage of their opportunity. Two goals in each half with no cards incurred spelled the perfect match for Lebanon, who now lead the series 4-0 and have a foot in the door of the third round. All this in spite of the fact that Lebanon's home stadium was mostly filled with Bangladesh fans.
Bangladesh better pray for monsoon weather like they had in their home leg against Pakistan in order to have a true home field advantage and a chance to overcome the four goal deficit. Does anyone have the Dhaka weather report for Thursday?
Uzbekistan, the top Asian team participating in the second round of qualifying and a team tipped by many (including me) to eventually qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil, began its likely lengthy journey to glory against neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Keep in mind that bad blood has existed between the two nations ever since 1999, when Uzbekistan erected a border fence to keep out suspected Kyrgyz terrorists who had been blamed for a bombing in Tashkent. The disputed border and the sealing of an Uzbek minority into Kyrgyz territory make for a bitter atmosphere whenever the two teams play.
The first leg was played in Tashkent, far from the troublesome border. Uzbekistan's brightest talent Odil Ahmedov did not take part in the match, but Uzbekistan were not fazed by the news. Uzbekistan got three goals from its 2011 AFC Asian Cup stars Alexander Geynrikh, Server Djeparov, and Ulugbek Bakaev along the way to victory. Geynrikh struck for the lone goal in the first half. Captain Djeparov made it 3-0 in the second half after an earlier strike by Russia-based Marat Bikmaev, and Bakaev sealed the result in second half stoppage time with a fourth to end it 4-0.
Kyrgyzstan is going to have to shut down the Uzbek attack in the second leg next Thursday while generating lots of offense. It does not appear to be in the cards for Kyrgyzstan, a team that did take Jordan to penalty kicks in the second round of AFC qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Goals:
Turkmenistan
Vyahcheslav Krendelev 11
Indonesia
Muhammad Ilham 29
Lebanon
Hassan Mattouk 16
Mahmoud El Ali 27
Ali Al Saadi 55
Tarek El Ali 64
Uzbekistan
Alexander Geynrikh 28
Marat Bikmaev 49
Server Djeparov 56
Ulugbak Bakaev 90+2
Match Reports:
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1L8wkpSOo (Turkmenistan v. Indonesia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOoU6G8zTvg (Lebanon v. Bangladesh)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qspzqLKUrBE (Uzbekistan v. Kyrgyzstan)
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