AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023: Uzbekistan's Coach Confirms Difficulty of Facing Syria Tomorrow

Doha, January 12 (QNA) - Slovenian Srecko Katanec, coach of the Uzbek national football team, confirmed his team's readiness to face Syria on Saturday in the opening of their journey in Group B of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, which will continue until Feb. 10.
During the press conference, the coach clarified that they prepared well and learned from previous mistakes. They played some matches before taking on the Syrian national team, which is a strong team and plays with a high fighting spirit, but they have weak points and the Uzbek team knows some details as they watched Syria in the previous two matches in the World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
He explained that they respect the Syrian team, and it will be a very difficult match, in which they will resort to caution and try various options and alternative solutions.
Uzbek midfielder Jaloliddin Masharipov noted that his country's national team is currently living its best moments, expressing his ambition to reach the final stages as well as his delight to be in the tournament.
The player of the Greek Panathinaikos club pointed out that in the last edition, his team came out of the round of 16 with a penalty against the Australian team, expressing his aspiration to go far this time.
In the last three editions they participated in, Uzbekistan succeeded in achieving victory during their opening matches, with 5 victories out of 7, including 4 clean-sheet matches, where the victory over Oman by two goals to one in the last edition was the only exception.
Uzbekistan have not missed the tournament in the last eight editions, qualifying for the knockout rounds in the last five editions, having been eliminated in the group stage in the first two editions (1996 and 2000). (QNA)