The Lebanese mission began this Wednesday February 6, 2008 at 6 p.m on the field of the “cité sportive”. We hope that our country will go further in the Asian qualifications that should lead him to the Soccer World Cup of 2010, in South Africa. That’s why the Lebanese team should not lose on his land against Uzbekistan.

Since November 19, 2003, Lebanon kept on winning in Beirut until the first failure against Iran (3-0). However, thanks to its victory against India (6-3 for the 2 games) Lebanon is now among the 20 qualified teams for the 2010 World Cup. From now on, the Lebanese team has to play more seriously against Uzbekistan during the first historical confrontation between these two nations. This is not impossible for Lebanon. The supporters must only believe in the Lebanese ability to make a positive result: we should not forget that many teams like South Korea, Kuwait, and Viet-Nam were crashed in Beirut.

Moreover, the national selection became stronger when Reda Antar, who was trained in Germany, joined it.

As for the formation of Central Asia, it will try to hinder its bad results chain in the Middle East. In fact, during the past few years, the Uzbeks never imposed themselves in the Asian Cup, Lebanon in 2000, or the U-20 FIFA World Cup, UAE 2003.

The Adversary’s Portrait

Uzbekistan is the strongest between the five old Soviet Socialist republics that joined the Asian Soccer Confederation. The team of Central Asia gave a big impression when he won the Gold medal of the Asian Olympics in 1994. However, since then, he hasn’t been able to prove himself on the continental scene, whereas the Uzbeks were particularly brilliant in the 2007Asian Cup. At first, they crashed China and Malaysia, the co-organizer of the tournament. In the quarter-finals, they lost against Saudi Arabia (2-1) after a very hard game. Despite their defeat, the Uzbeks showed that they are still strong in Asian soccer. Moreover, the experience they got from the Asian Cup was precious for them during their fourth try for the qualification to FIFA World Cup finals.

Therefore, Uzbekistan can rely on its star kicker, Maksim Shatskikh, from Dynamo Kiev, who has a brilliant future waiting for him. As for Geynrikh, the young attacker, he has become the fatal arm of his team, especially when he is used as a luxury joker. In the heart of the field, Server Djeparov highlights the creativity since Kasimov’s retiring, whereas in defense, the young Aziz Ibragimov has quickly imposed himself in the world of the experimented players Hayrulla Karimov and Aleksey Nikolaev.