Ravshan Khaydarov: My players show the best performance of this tournament

Ravshan Khaydarov hailed his Uzbekistan side’s semi-final winning performance against Korea Republic on Tuesday evening as their most impressive to date as the Central Asian nation booked their place in the final of the AFC U23 Championship 2018.

Uzbekistan handed the Koreans a 4-1 defeat in extra-time to advance to the final for the first time, where they will meet Vietnam in Changzhou on Saturday afternoon, and Khaydarov was delighted with his team’s commanding display.

“My players did their maximum, it was their best performance of this tournament,” he said. “We were strong tactically and physically and in other details, even though the players were tired. 

“Korea are a strong team and I told my players that before the game. We played two periods of extra time and it was very difficult, but my team showed character and individual skill and I think we deserved this win today.”

The Uzbeks took the lead in the first half through Zabikhillo Urinboev only for Hwang Hyun-soo to level the scores with a second half header. 

But Jang Yun-ho’s sending off 16 minutes from time gave Uzbekistan an added advantage and extra-time goals from Azizjon Ganiev, Jasurbek Yakhshiboev and Akramjobn Komilov sealed their team’s place in the showpiece.

“I would like to pay respect to my players,” said Khaydarov. “It was a very difficult game but from the beginning to the end we controlled possession on the pitch and I think we deserved to win. We have won for our families and all of our fans and supporters.

“We tried to control the game from the start and after the Korean player was sent off. So maybe the sending off had an effect, but even before that we controlled the game. 

“As a coach, I think we played better and had more possession on the pitch. After the sending off, the Korean team were very difficult to play against but, in my opinion, the sending off didn’t change things too much because we were in control of the game.”

Source: The-AFC.com