Masharipov did not know that an opponent player had received a red card in the match against Kyrgyzstan

The leaders of the Uzbek national team did not notice that the Kyrgyz played in the minority for more than an hour of the match. Some take it for granted, others do not believe the player's words, and still others accuse the players of not taking the situation seriously.

In the 24th minute of the match against Kyrgyzstan in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Uzbekistan national football team player Jaloliddin Masharipov did not see the red card shown to the opponent's defender Said Datsiev. He spoke about this in the 90minutUz podcast.

The football player said that during the match, two opponents appeared in front of the attackers and this caused problems. When the coach talked about how Kyrgyzstan's red card worked to Uzbekistan's detriment, and after that the opponent went into a deep defense, the player added:

"I'll tell you one thing, after I was substituted in the 86th minute, when I sat down, Hojimat Erkinov said, "Brother, it's good that they got a red card." I was surprised, "Who got a red card?" Of course, I didn't know, I didn't see it, because I was lying down thinking I was going to kick it, so I didn't see it.

After the game, when we were in the shower, I told Eldor, "They got a red card in the game," and he was also surprised, "Who got a red card, when did they get a red card?" We thought we were playing eleven against eleven. I didn't know either."

At that moment, one of the coaches asked if the head coach had changed tactics during the break based on the red card.

"There was no talk of a red card, Temur aka said something, but no one said it was a red card. I found out after I was substituted, Eldor didn't know until the end of the game, he found out after the game, in the shower.

If we had known during the game, we would have relaxed. If I had known, I would have told Temur aka to take off a defender and put on a striker," the player said.

A video of this part of the show has been widely discussed on social media. Many fans who watched the game live from the stands say that they only found out later that the red card was shown, that the Uzbek players were distracted by a penalty in that situation and ignored the red card, and that the referee showed the red card after the VAR review was the reason for this.

At the same time, there are those who are not convinced that this was discussed at least in the locker room, that the coach did not say anything about it, and are making a fuss.

Some also accused the players of negligence.

Journalist Kahramon Aslanov expressed his surprise at the situation in his post:

"I was surprised that Jaloliddin Masharipov did not know until the end of the game that he and some other players in the match with Kyrgyzstan were one player short of the opponent. Because in modern football, achieving a numerical advantage in key areas through correct movement is of great importance, one might even say the most important. Jalol himself admitted that it was precisely the lack of numbers in the attack that created difficulties, and that he and Eldor always had 2-3 opponent players in front of them.

So why wasn't the fact that the opponent was one player short of the opponent being the main topic during the break? Yes, it is likely that Temur did not find it necessary to emphasize "guys, we are one more" when everyone knew about the opponent's red card, but isn't this the most important detail that is emphasized during the instructions and serves as the basis for the plan? "Did we go into the second half without a plan, or did Masharipov and Shomurodov not listen to the coach's instructions carefully enough during the break?

No matter how we interpret it, I don't think it's good." Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”