FIFA WORLD CUP 2026: PORTUGAL V UZBEKISTAN
WILL DEBUTANT UZBEKS MAKE THEIR LAST STAND IN TEXAS?
On Tuesday Portugal take on Uzbekistan in Houston.
For Cristiano Ronaldo and pals it is a chance to grab their first three points of the World Cup. For the Uzbeks, a second defeat could well mean the end of their magical dream.
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| Uzbekistan are at their first World Cup Finals |
Cape Verde, who have drawn with Spain and Uruguay, have rightly won the award for the underdogs of the tournament, but the first Central Asian qualifier in World Cup history should have been a bigger story than it has been.
This is a large part of the world where news does not travel far, which makes the Uzbeks' World Cup presence so intriguing. Football unites the world, FIFA tells us and World Cups open doors and shine lights on corners of the globe, if only for a month. Visit a World Cup and you will bump into people from a myraid of faraway lands. Watch it at home and you can learn about them too.
The '5 Stans' - Kazahkstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have almost 79 million people between them, 38 million of whom live in Uzbekistan, but remain largely unknown across the globe. Doubly landlocked, Uzbekistan has a scarcity of rainfall and a hot and dry climate. This week's daily highs in the historic capital Tashkent, a jewel of the Silk Route, once trashed by Genghis Khan and once the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union, are typically 38 Celsius.
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| Khast Imam Square in Tashkent, Uzbekistan |
The nation has had Olympic success in boxing and wrestling but football remains their favourite sport. The White Wolves are nevertheless the nearly men of Asian football, having only once reached the last four of the Asian Cup and having always fallen just short of reaching the World Cup finals, until 2026 that is. A running joke of them missing the bus is no longer funny after they lost only one game in qualification and topped their group by a comfortable six points.
The country's president, Shavkat Mirziyoyez, was fulsome with praise for their historic achievement.
"Such a brilliant result which will be written in golden letters in the annals of our national sport," he said, "the dream of millions of football fans and of our entire people, for years."
The nation was on fire with football fever, and big screens were set up in 220 schools across the nation and throughout Tashkent.
In their World Cup debut in Mexico City, Uzbekistan bravely took on Colombia, ranked 38 places above them, and for while the game looked like it may have gone their way, particularly when Abbosbek Fayzullaev equalised Daniel Munoz's opener on the hour.
But then Luis Diaz, Los Cafeteros' world-class winger, turned on the magic to score and Jaminton Campaz eked out a third at the death for a 3-1 win.
Coach Fabio Cannavaro, a World Cup winner with Italy and an astute acquisition, insists they can still get out of the group if they concentrate and cut out the individual errors that cost them against Colombia.
Portugal are hungry for victory to remind the world they are one of the pre-tournament favourites after their lacklustre draw with DR Congo dampened expectations, which could spell trouble for the Uzbeks.
Lose in Houston and one of the World Cup's most interesting stories may come to an abrupt end, but a victory against DR Congo in their final group game, in Atlanta, may yet hand Uzbekistan a lifeline.
Far from a first-time whipping boy, the White Wolves will not go down without a fight.
(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile