"We reached an agreement with Oman." How is Uzbekistan national team preparing for the AFC U-20 Asian Cup?

In March, the AFC U-20 Asian Cup will be held in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan U-20 national team under the head coach of Ravshan Khaydarov will participate in an important competition as the host.

The Uzbek team will compete against Indonesia, Iraq and Syria in group "A".

There is less and less time left for the AFC U-20 Asian Cup. That's why Sports.uz journalist spoke with the coach of the national team, Ravshan Khaydarov, about the preparation for the competition.

- Ravshan Akmalovich, during the preparation for the Asian Championship, are you satisfied with all the work or are there any worrying aspects?

- We held our first meeting in December. Organizational issues were considered and we also checked the condition of the players after returning from vacation. We took the guys through medical examinations. At that time, our legionary players were also here. Umarali Rahmonaliev and Abdugadir Khusanov were also in Tashkent. Using this, we held our meeting in December. Our next meeting is scheduled for January 16. I hope that we will gather again with the full team at this meeting. We need to introduce the players to the practice of the game. Then we will organize a training camp in Turkey at the beginning of February. We want to bring our game there. Several international friendly matches are planned in Turkey. As you know, the Asian Championship will start on March 1. All our meetings will continue as planned. The players have been training in their clubs since the beginning of January. The second half of January and February are important for us, and we need to do all our planned work.

- If I'm not mistaken, a control game will be organized at the January meeting as well?

- An agreement is being reached on the international game after January 20. We will definitely let you know when this is done. As I said, the second half of January and the training sessions in February are important for us. We need to get into the tone of the game during this period. We need to do a lot of work to shape our game from the physical side as well.

- How is the study of opponents going before the competition?

- Of course, studies of opponents are ongoing. During our preparation, we are trying to play teams that match our opponents in our group. For example, we reached an agreement with the national team of Oman on February 20-21. This will be our last control game. I think we will play 3-4 international games before the AFC U-20 Asian Cup.

- Is the content almost optimal for you or are there problems in some positions?

- The main squad of our national team has been formed. We also have legionnaires. There are always problems attracting them. This side was a bit more difficult last year. But we are happy that they have become members of our main team. However, our national team meetings do not always coincide with FIFA days, so we cannot invite all the players we want. We are training all our players equally. Everyone is given a chance. Last year, they participated in a number of international competitions and we gave the boys game practices. Our team is unique. We also have leaders. It will be good for us if everyone is healthy and in optimal shape by that time. In addition, players from clubs such as FC Nasaf, FC Bunyodkor are playing with the main team. When necessary, our clubs provide us with players.