Uzbekistan national team midfielder Otabek Shukurov shared his thoughts after the 1-0 victory against Iran in the final of the CAFA Nations Cup 2025.
"Of course, our mood is very high, but nevertheless, we are capable of playing even better. We feel this well ourselves. The opponent remained on the field with 10 people, and the referees also supported us.
This match is mainly friendly in nature. Our main goal is to adequately prepare for the world championship. Therefore, playing against high-level teams like Iran will be a great experience for us.
Of course, we won, but it didn't give us 100 percent satisfaction. Because various situations occur in football, but ultimately the result remains in history.
Iran defended itself very firmly, even when it was only ten men. This testifies to their experience on a global scale. We could have scored earlier, but we couldn't capitalize on the opportunities. Perhaps the goal scored at the end of the game was even sweeter," the 29-year-old said in an interview with Sport TV.
As a reminder, in this final, the Iranian team played with a one-man deficit starting from the 5th minute. The match was assigned to Kyrgyz referee Nurzat Abdukodirov.
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