WCQ Group A: Lebanon 1-1 Uzbekistan

GOAL – BEIRUT, Lebanon and Uzbekistan drew 1-1 in Beirut in the fourth round of 2014 World Cup qualifying on Friday.

The Cedars were fortunate to grab a draw from the Uzbeks, as they once again missed captain and central midfielder Roda Antar.

After Sunday’s loss to Qatar, coach Theo Bucker only made two changes to the starting line-up, bringing in Ali Al Saadi for Ramez Dayoub – whose error against Qatar gifted the visitors a goal – and Hassan Mohammad for Mohammad Ghaddar.

The Uzbeks scored an early goal after Lebanon failed to clear a corner. The ball fell to Djasur Khasanov who had enough time to set up the shot and place it into the far right corner, past the reach of keeper Ziad Samad.

The Lebanese struggled to keep up with the Uzbeks’ speed of play as their quick counterattacks often found the Cedars midfield out of position.

Lebanon remained resilient though and equalised from a long distance low free kick by defender Al Saadi after 36 minutes.

The last few minutes of the match was end to end with Uzbekistan, in particular, unlucky to not have scored a few times, with Samad coming up big.

Ahmad Zreik also missed a good chance from close range that he drilled into the side netting.

Lebanon have now picked up one point fron their first two matches at home. Qatar and Uzbekistan were considered the least challenging of Lebanon’s matches as they face South Korea and Iran next.