Qatar 0-2 Uzbekistan [VIDEO]

AFC -DOHA, AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ hosts Qatar made a disappointing start to the 15th edition of Asia’s premier tournament after Uzbekistan claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory at Khalifa Stadium on Friday.

Vadim Abramov’s side dominated for much of the encounter but it needed a sublime goal from Odil Akhmedov to give them the lead just before the hour before Server Djeparov sealed the points with a predatory strike in the 77th minute.

The result ensured the vast majority of the crowd of over 37,000 left disappointed and perhaps gave Bruno Metsu an indication of the task he faces to take Qatar through to the knockout stages from a tricky Group A that also contains Kuwait and China.

The hosts had made a promising start to the match and were the first to threaten in the opening minutes as Hussein Yasser delivered a cross into the area that Fabio Cesar nodded the wrong side of the post.

But Uzbekistan quickly found their feet and twice threatened to cause an early upset with Alexander Geynrikh at the centre of both opportunities.

First, the Pakhtakor striker struck the angle of the upright in the seventh minute after being found unmarked in the area from a smart cut-back by Djeparov, and seconds later he sprung the offside trap to race towards goal but opted to feed a pass to the onrushing Jasur Khasanov and the midfielder could only poke his shot into the body of keeper Qasem Burhan.

Uzbekistan again came close after 18 minutes when Maksim Shatskikh played a low cross into the area that evaded the hands of Burhan and ran through to the unmarked Khasanov, whose drilled effort was deflected wide by Bilal Mohammed.

The pace of the game slowed down after that but the hosts came close to snatching the lead six minutes before the break as Sebastian Soria was fouled 25 yards from goal and Fabio Cesar stepped up to curl a free-kick that smashed against the woodwork.

The Qataris had another chance soon after the restart as Soria beat Uzbek keeper Ignatiy Nesterov to the ball before lofting a pass into the area for Yasser, whose goal-bound lob was hooked clear by Sakhob Juraev.

But instead it was the Uzbeks who took the lead shortly before the hour with a stunning 35-yard strike by Akhmedov as the Pakhtakor midfielder raced onto a pass from Azizbek Haydarov and rifled a shot that struck the underside of the crossbar before nestling inside the Qatar goal.

Uzbekistan then capitalised on some slack defending by Qatar to wrap up the three points 13 minutes from time as Djeparov pounced on poor pass across the back to drive a first-time shot beyond Burhan.