Uzbekistan 0 China 3
Conditions had eased in Parramatta as part two of this double game day came to life, the heat and humidity giving way to a perfect night for football in the stands and on the pitch. Outside, the red shirts of China were prominent in the stadium precinct and a chunk of their support congregated in the South end of CommBank Stadium to emulate a home game in Western Sydney. Uzbekistan had retreated inside with over twenty minutes to kick off, the Chinese team continuing their warm-up with their final drills in their snazzy training tops with the funky collar, looking every bit the superpower that we expect them to be at his tournament.
Play was concentrated in the Uzbekistan half in the opening stages, but neither team was efficient in possession. The crisp white shirts of Uzbekistan hustled their all-red opponents, the teams traded bookable fouls with no yellow cards eventuating and Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva ploughed a lone furrow up front in search of scraps. Dilrabo Asadova scythed down her opponent and picked up the first yellow. Wu Chengsu got the first shot of the night away from the subsequent free kick sequence, blazing over, and Zhang Xin missed her kick when well-placed as China asserted their dominance. The excited atmosphere was squashed with the first stoppage, Khabibulaeva down on the turf requiring assistance. A ridiculous scenario then saw two Uzbek players on the ground, Madina Khikmatova going in with a tackle and goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova dropping to her knees holding her back. The new FIFA rules can’t come quickly enough to stamp out this rubbish. A fourth stoppage in 18 minutes had the stretcher on for Khabibullaeva, and the neutral and casual fan started to distrust the Uzbek players.
China were buzzing around the Uzbek area, but the defence was always in the way of the shot; this was great scrambling, and the longer China went without scoring, the bigger the belief that an upset could be unfolding. Uzbekistan were meaty with their tackles, Ilvina Ablyakimova became the fifth stoppage in twenty-five minutes, a comical statistic, but the game changed when Shao Ziqin went down under a shirt tug from Kholida Dadaboeva as a corner came in. It was obvious. The VAR check was unnecessary, and up stepped Shao to tuck a lovely penalty into the corner of the net. The resistance was over; if the pattern of the other unbalanced group stage games so far was anything to go by, we’d have one or two more before the break.
Ablyakimova escaped a yellow card when she tripped her opponent right in front of the referee, but when she repeated the foul, the yellow card came out without delay. Lyudmila Karachik joined her in the referee’s notebook within minutes. Nilufar Kudratova was the sixth stoppage in thirty-eight minutes as she flopped to the floor; at least the referee wasn’t reacting to the play-acting until the ball was out of play. All it did was deprive the team of a player as they waited on the sideline to rejoin play. Kudratova gave us a clever dummy to shake off two China players but the towering Shao Ziqin should have scored, lifting her shot to the right level for Jonimqulova to make a smart save. Zhang Linyan didn’t quite catch her shot right, but still tested the Uzbek keeper who got down slowly to smother. Shao Ziqin missed an absolute sitter right in front, firing over from six yards as eight minutes of additional time was announced. She was at it again a minute later, scooping a cross from Li Mengwen over the bar despite being unmarked and she caught a volley beautifully as time ticked away that just flew over the bar. Time for another stoppage, the seventh in fifty minutes, quite an unbelievable count. There was just time for another corner at the end of the added time, and the referee ended the half with chants of Uz-bek-i-stan from the crowd and China only a single goal to the good.
Naara the mascot and the AFC Asian Cup volunteers danced their way through half-time, it was quite a sight, while the Chinese drummer ladies at the other end of the field made the noise for the team in command. There seemed to be more Chinese fans behind Jonimqulova’s goal now and they were vocal. A quite brilliant save by the Uzbek goalkeeper repelled Zhang Linyan’s shot as the second half got off to a flying start. China scored while two Uzbek players were on the ground after a collision, one of them the goalkeeper, and the referee was having none of it as Li Qingtong lifted the ball into the empty net. She was no Paolo Di Canio. There were boos around the stadium at the perceived injustice, but on replay it looked like Ilvina Ablyakimova had pushed a player into her own teammates. The goal stood, there was no VAR check, the referee got it right. Li Mengwen then smashed in a shot from distance that Jonimqulova tipped around the post and China looked ready to go for the jugular. The aerial threat of Shao Ziqin continued and the speed of Zhang Linyan was thrilling for the crowd until she was stopped in full flight by a pull of the arm. The bookings continued, Uzbekistan maybe weakened by suspension for their final group stage clash with Bangladesh with third place at stake.
A mistake at the back allowed Tang Jiali to leap on a stray back pass and she should have scored, and from the corner a handball shout let VAR decide that it should be a second penalty to China or not. The penalty shout was dismissed but China continued to pepper Jonimqulova’s goal, a series of corners testing the Uzbekistan defence. With half an hour of the second half gone, it was refreshing to note the lack of injury stoppages, and China put the foot down, a beautiful cross by Zhang Xin from a short corner right on to the head of Li Qingtong who glanced the ball into the net from close range for 3-0. Stoppage number eight did come, as both teams made changes for the final ten minutes. Maftuna Shoyimova went into the book with a horrible late tackle after she had been wrong-footed, but she looked dead on her feet.
Seven minutes of injury time went quickly, Uzbekistan ventured forward for a rare attack, but Chen Chen remained untroubled. Stoppage number nine used up a lot of the additional time, a player from both teams down receiving treatment. Western Sydney Wanderers’ Yuan Cong looked lively, firing in from distance after a powerful run. China used up the rest of the time with some crisp passing and possession, not shy to go backwards, before Tang Jiali fired just wide to complete the action, the referee bringing a much-extended ninety minutes to a close. The players manoeuvred into position to execute the AFC handshakes with the officials team before China broke away to thank their noisy support.
This gives us an absolute classic to finish the group stage, China facing North Korea for top spot back at this same venue, and we’ll get to understand just how strong these two teams are before the knock-out phase comes around. Is it time to get worried as a Matildas fan? This tournament sounded straightforward before it started, now that we see teams dispatching similar nations by similar scorelines, it doesn’t seem so simple. Get on board! Day off tomorrow for a bit of men’s football at Allianz Stadium before we get back to the big game on Sunday night at Accor. See you there!