Uzbekistan has excelled in soccer in recent years, especially with their national youth men's soccer team at all levels, and ESPN recently published an article mentioning the Central Asian powerhouse and noting that Uzbekistan is emerging as an Asian powerhouse.
Despite Uzbekistan's mediocre Asian rankings, they have never played in a World Cup before and their best result in the Asian Cup was just reaching the quarterfinals.
The Uzbekistan Premier League lacks appeal and prestige, having not once appeared in an AFC Champions League final in the past. However, their men's youth teams at all levels have made breakthroughs in recent years, which could hint at a future as one of Asia's top powerhouses.
Uzbekistan U23 defeated defending champions Saudi Arabia U23 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Cup on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals. Now, they only need to beat Indonesia in the semifinals to qualify for the Paris Olympics. Even if they fail to beat Indonesia, they have a chance to fight for the final Olympic berth in the third-place playoff.
Some may not find Uzbekistan U23's easy passage to the quarter-finals too convincing as they didn't face any strong opponents in the group stage, but their 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia showed how strong the team is.
Although the Saudi players were not as well known, many of the opponents played for Riyadh Crescent, Riyadh Victory and Jeddah United. But once the game started, Uzbekistan had a clear advantage, whether it was in terms of skill, concentration, individual technique and physical condition, Uzbekistan players were better in all these aspects.
Uzbekistan finally managed to avenge their loss to Saudi Arabia in the final of the last U23 Asian Cup. This is another indication of the fact that Uzbekistan is rapidly emerging as one of the strongest teams in Asia.
Uzbekistan have scored 12 goals and maintained their record of not conceding a goal in this U23 Asian Cup, winning four straight matches, and no one is currently questioning their strength and depth in the squad. Throughout the four matches, manager Kapadze has constantly rotated his starting lineup, with Lens defender Khusanov and CSKA Moscow attacker Fayzullaev, who did not play in the first two group stage matches, being two of the best performers in their lineup.
Uzbekistan are confident that they may not yet be at the highest level in Asia, but with qualification for the Olympics and back-to-back victories at this year's U23 Asian Cup, we're confident that they'll quickly rise to become an Asian powerhouse.
