Andrey Fyodorov: "I would have kept Kapadzen instead of Cannavaro"

The Uzbekistan national team faced strong opponents in the first two matches of its first-ever World Cup. Our representatives lost 1-3 to Colombia and 0-5 to Portugal.

Former national team player Andrey Fyodorov shared his thoughts on the unsuccessful results in the tournament and commented on the appointment of head coach Fabio Cannavaro.

Fyodorov noted that if he were the decision-maker, he would not have appointed the former Italian national team player as head coach and would have kept Timur Kapadzen in the position.

"If it were up to me, I wouldn't have appointed Fabio Cannavaro as the head coach of the Uzbekistan national team. I would have kept Timur Kapadzen. He was performing the tasks set for him well as the national team's head coach," said Fyodorov.

The former footballer noted that Cannavaro had his own specific motivation for working in Uzbekistan. However, he believes that the change in coaching has affected the team's performance at the World Cup.

At the same time, Fyodorov noted that Uzbekistan's chance of reaching the play-off stage is not yet completely lost.

"I cannot say that the Uzbekistan national team definitely cannot get out of the group. Hope is not very high, but it's still there. For this, first and foremost, the DR Congo national team must be defeated," he said.

Fyodorov assessed DR Congo as a serious opponent and specifically emphasized that the team has demonstrated its strengths in the group stage.

"Congo showed themselves to be quite strong in the group stage," added the former Uzbekistan national team player.

As a reminder, the decisive match between the national teams of Uzbekistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo will take place on June 28 in the USA.

The match, which is of great importance for both teams, will start at 04:30 Tashkent time.