The head coach of the Uzbekistan U-17 national team gave an interview to the AFC website

Tomorrow, April 3, the Uzbekistan U-17 national team will begin its participation in the Asian Cup. Our representatives will play against Thailand in the first round. The team's head coach, Islam Ismailov, gave an interview to the official AFC website before the competition.

— How was the team's preparation?

— Our team prepared well for the Asian Cup in all aspects. The preparation process was carried out step by step, and we worked separately on the physical, tactical, technical and mental preparation of our players. First, local training camps were held, and attention was paid to developing our team's playing style. Later, we tried to improve the quality of the team's game through international friendly matches. During the training sessions, our players' understanding of the game has further developed, and their physical form has been brought to an optimal state.

— Do you have any important players who will miss the Asian Cup due to injury?

— There are no players in our team who will miss the tournament due to injury. All players are in good shape and we have prepared for the tournament with a full squad. This is a big advantage for us, because the coaching staff has developed all our plans based on the full squad. Now our main goal is to bring the players to the highest level from game to game and show our best game in each match.

— Uzbekistan will start the Asian Cup with the opening match against Thailand. What do you think of this team? What strengths do you see in them?

— Thai youth football is developing year by year. They are a team that is technically strong and capable of playing fast. In particular, one of their strengths is their ability to quickly switch to attack and to make the opponent lose their composure through precise passes in short spaces. Therefore, we will try to eliminate their combination play and gain an advantage through our own attack line. During the preparation, we have thoroughly analyzed the playing style and tactical schemes of the Thai team. I think we have enough opportunities to show good results against a strong opponent.

— Can you tell us about the biggest lessons learned from past tournaments and the tactics the team is currently using?

— The paths taken by our teams in previous tournaments have been a great experience for us. First of all, we realized the importance of showing a consistent game throughout the tournament and maintaining composure under pressure. Therefore, when working with the current squad, we placed great emphasis on mental preparation. In addition, we understood that physical condition and speed of play are crucial in tournaments. In previous competitions, sometimes small details affected the result, but now we are paying special attention to such aspects. I think that these experiences will serve as an important basis for us to achieve success.

Source: UFA press service Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”