Odil Ahmedov scored on the stroke of halftime to give Uzbekistan a 1-0 win over Lebanon in their opening third round 2010 World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

Ahmedov’s 44th-minute strike gave the Uzbeks the early lead in Group Four to boost their chances of reaching their first World Cup finals after three failed attempts since gaining independence from the Soviet Union.

Their last campaign ended in acrimony when FIFA ordered the replay of a group match with Bahrain because of a mistake by a referee. Their subsequent defeat denied the central Asian side a a chance to playoff for a berth in the 2006 finals in Germany.

Uzbekistan and Lebanon are contesting the group with Saudi Arabia and Singapore, with the top two teams advancing to the fourth round.