13 Oct 2005(Thu)

Wednesday, October 12 -- The Uzbekistan-Bahrain match made painful viewing on Saturday night.

Especially when Bahrain took the lead early in the first half.

Although Uzbekistan equalised shortly after, you couldn't help feeling sorry for the home team.

As one TV commentator put it, surely a fairer decision by FIFA would have been to restart the match from the 39th minute, when Uzbekistan were awarded a penalty.

They were 1-0 up at the time, and a successful penalty would have made it 2-0.

In the original game, of course, Uzbekistan scored from the penalty spot, but the Japanese referee, Yoshida, quite rightly disallowed the goal because an Uzbek player had run into the box before the kick had been taken.

But instead of making Uzbekistan take the kick again, he awarded Bahrain an indirect free kick, which was completely the wrong decision -- and it still amazes me that Yoshida was not helped out by one of his assistants, or the fourth official.

When the dust had settled on Saturday's replayed first leg, the teams were level at 1-1 going into the second leg on Wednesday at Manama, Bahrain.

Bahrain will start the second leg as favourites, but the Uzbeks have the most experienced player on the field in Kasimov, and an in-form striker in Shatskikh.

I remember visiting Hiroshima for the 1994 Asian Games and the left-footed midfield general Kasimov was in the Uzbek team that won the gold medal, beating China 4-2 in the final at Big Arch.

Other players who remain in the memory were the goalkeeper Sheikin, the central defender Tikhonov, the left wing-back Lebedev, the attacking midfielder Abduraimov and the potent forward Shkvyrin.

Eleven years on, Uzbekistan are still not out of World Cup contention, but if they fall in Bahrain they will have every right to feel hard done by.

After the first leg, they appealed for a 3-0 victory, but that was way too ambitious and was ruled out by FIFA.

And who knows what would have happened if the game had started from the 39th minute? Maybe Uzbekistan would have missed the penalty, the whole flow of the game would have changed, and Bahrain may have won the first leg 4-1. Alternatively, Bahrain may have collapsed and Uzbekistan would have won 5-0.

This is the great thing about football. You just never know what will happen, apart from the fact that controversy is lurking around every corner.

ends