Uzbekistan national team and Beijing Guoan defender Egor Krimets (C) competes for the ball against two Bunyodkor players. (Photo : Getty Images)
A Group H match between Uzbekistan (5-1-0, 15 points) and the Philippines (2-3-1, 7 points) is scheduled to take place at the Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 24th, Thursday as the group stage second round competitions of the AFC 2018 World Cup qualifiers is winding down to its last few matches.
Uzbekistan demolished the Philippines in their first meeting of the tournament, 5-1, on the road at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Philippines on matchday four last year and it is expected that they will repeat the performance, or even do better, in their home field this week.
The White Wolves trounced lowly Yemen, 3-1, at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar during their previous matchday to set themselves comfortably at the second spot of the group standings, as per Soccerway.
Yemen had been holding its home games in Doha because of security concerns on the ongoing Saudi Arabia-led intervention in Yemen.
Uzbek midfielder Azizbek Haydarov opened the scoring right at the seventh minute of the match then followed up by striker Server Djeparov at the 31st to give head coach Samvel Babayan's squad a 2-0 lead at the halftime interval.
Winger Stanislav Andreev added another goal for Uzbekistan five minutes into the second half of the game before Yemeni forward Ahmed Al-Sarori netted a consolation goal during stoppage time to avoid an embarrassing shutout.
Meanwhile, the Philippines suffered a sorry 0-1 setback against the same Yemen squad at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, Philippines on Nov. 12th last year to officially drop their World Cup campaign, as reported by CNN.
Al-Sarori scored the lone goal of the match for the Reds as it was also their first win in the group stage competitions.
The Azkals opened the tournament with two straight wins, against Bahrain and Yemen, but has not won a game even since, losing three times and drawing once against North Korea to terminate their World Cup dream.
The predicted result is a 4-1 romp for Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Lobanov; Ismailov, Denisov, Tukhtakhodjaev, Krimets; Haydarov, Djeparov; Ahmedov, Andreev, Rashidov; Sergeev
Philippines starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Etheridge; Ramsay, Aguinaldo, Sato, Daniels; Woodland, Steuble, Reichelt; Clariño, Patiño, Flores
