Soccer: Uzbekistan mauls 10-man Mongolian squad 15-0
Posted: Saturday December 05, 1998 02:05 PM
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Thailand defeated Hong Kong in a first-round match at the 13th Asian Games AP |
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Defending champions Uzbekistan
waltzed into the second round of the Asian Games soccer
tournament with a record 15-0 victory over hapless Mongolia on
Saturday.
Iran, parading most of their World Cup team, also came out
on top of their first round group with a 6-1 win over minnows
Laos which was not as easy as the final score line suggested.
Qatar also moved through with a 4-0 win over the Maldives
with all four goals coming from Mohammed Salem Al Kawar.
Uzbekistan topped their group by scoring more against the
Mongolians than Kuwait, who emerged with a 11-0 win over the men
from the Steppes -- then an Asian Games record which eclipsed
China's 7-1 win over India in the 1974 Tehran games.
Kuwait and Uzbekistan drew 3-3 and the Uzbeks might wish
they had scored fewer goals against Mongolia as topping the
group puts them into a tougher looking second round line-up.
To get into the quarterfinal knockout stage, the Uzbeks will
have to win one of the top two places in a second round group
which also includes World Cup 2002 co-hosts Japan and South
Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Kuwait go into a second round group with Turkmenistan, North
Korea and India, who edged out neighboring Nepal 1-0 to clinch
their berth with a 46th minute goal from Carlton Chapman.
But on Saturday, it was all too easy for the Uzbeks to score
against a Mongolian side who were a defensive shambles and
rarely managed to penetrate into the Uzbekistan penalty area.
Mongolia's debacle began in the 7th minute when defender
Altangereil Battulga stopped a goal bound shot with his hand and
was sent off.
The Uzbeks were awarded a penalty and Sergey Libedev
converted the first of his two first half spot kicks.
By the time 15 minutes had gone, Igor Shkvirin had scored a
hat trick and the Uzbeks were 5-0 up, a total they had doubled
by halftime and they were looking set to beat Iran's record 17-0
win over the Maldives in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup in
France.
But they eased off -- to the point of almost walking the
ball around in the last 15 minutes -- and scored only five goals
in the second half. Libedev ended up with four goals and there
were also hat tricks for Nagmetulla Kutibayev and Mirdjajai
Kasimov.
By contrast, Iran had to work hard for their win over tough
tackling Laos, who defended in numbers and broke swiftly to give
the Iranian defense some anxious moments.
Only three goals in the last eight minutes gave the
score line some respectability for Iran, who struggled to break
down the Lao defense despite a considerable height advantage in
lanky Bayern Munich striker Ali Daei.
The Iranians, who had been expected to score several
goals on their way to a second round group also including China,
Oman and Qatar, had to wait 26 minutes before cracking the Lao
defense.
When they added another four minutes later, they looked well
on the way to a comfortable victory.
But on the stroke of halftime, Laos, who had come close a
couple of times, staged another swift breakaway and Soubinh
Keophet cracked home a fine goal from the edge of the area.
Urged on by a largely Thai crowd yelling for their
neighbors, Laos held out, occasionally looking dangerous, until
the 74th minute, when Ali-Reza Mansourian finished off a fine
move from close range.
Darioush Yazdani scored with a long-range shot which took a
wicked deflection off a defender eight minutes later and then
Ali Daie finally got on the score sheet in the 83rd and 87th
minutes.
Daie's second goal summed up the Lao day -- goalkeeper
Phasomphou pushed a 25-metre free kick onto the bar only
for the ball to bounce into the net off his back as he lay on
the ground.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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