this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Imagine one country in AFC was an elite national team for many decades of the likes of France, Germany in the past, Spain etc... We would have seen a 200 goals scorer given how many levels below most Asian teams are. But now AFC is making huge progress with Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan slowly, etc..
Huh Uzbekistan?
Whats happening there? Never heard of their NT or players beeing good.
They just beat England in the rd of 16 knockout game of the U17 WC. Yesterday was the match I think
And Uzbekistan is basically set to qualify for the next WC with the increase in slots. The AFC getting only 4/5 slots in all the previous WCs basically kept Uzbekistan out of contention from final qualification. But this year they seem an even better team than any time before and with that U17 lot putting on the performance that they have yesterday, they only seem to be getting better with regards to their future chances too
I'd liken them to the Atletico Madrid teams we've seen over the past decade. Physical, defensively solid, potential to launch some solid counter attacks, decent finishing across their attacking ranks. But yes, Imo, its their ability to not give an inch as a collective to their opposition that is their biggest strength. They'll latch onto the opposition when they have the ball and harass them into giving it up basically.
We (India) are clubbed with them, Australia and Syria in the Asian Cup group. Our U17 lads also faced this current U17 team earlier this year in the final round for the U17 WC qualification. They absolutely got our boys mentally done for 75-80 mins out of the 90 with their physical game and got a 1-0 win iirc. So a handful of us on the Indian football sub have followed their recent results and it's not an over exaggeration to say that they're right behind Iran, South Korea and Japan with regards to overall quality.
Drawn 2-2 with Iran in last match. Also check their last fixtures, you will get it.