Odiljon Xamrobekov believes White Wolves could earn the trophy

Odiljon Xamrobekov has called on Uzbekistan to make one last push as they prepare to face Vietnam in Saturday’s AFC U23 Championship 2018 final at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center.

Uzbekistan lost 1-0 to Qatar in their opening game, but went on to book their place in the final thanks to group stage victories over Oman and host nation China PR, and then comprehensive wins against defending champions Japan in the last eight and Korea Republic in the semi-finals.

With Uzbekistan’s first trophy since the 2012 AFC U16 Championship potentially now only 90 minutes away, the FC Nasaf midfielder believes the White Wolves are more than up to the challenge.

“We have played a lot in this tournament and some of the players are tired or carrying injuries,” Xamrobekov, an ever-present in China, told the-AFC.com.

“However, we will recover because we know how important this game is. This is the final, and we will give our very best in what is our last match.

“After the group stage, our coach told us to change some aspects, tactically and physically.

“In the knockout stage, we came with a different style because each game is like a final. If you lose, you go home. We played very well against Japan, after that we had one of our best games against Korea Republic in the semi-final.”

The two teams met as recently as December at the M-150 Cup in Thailand where Uzbekistan recorded a narrow 2-1 win.

However, despite that result still being fresh in his mind, Xamrobekov is adamant that his side have nothing but the utmost respect for a Vietnam team who have defied the odds to reach this stage of the competition.

“We played against Vietnam recently, so we know how strong and skilful every individual in that team is,” he said.

“I think we have enough information about them, but I will say it again, we respect all the teams, because the best 16 teams participated in the AFC U23 Championship, and Vietnam are one of the best.”

Source: The-AFC.com