WC 2026: Abduqodir Husanov receives lowest rating in Uzbekistan vs Congo match

The historic World Cup for the Uzbekistan national team ended far too early. Opportunities were missed in all three group stage matches. Although Fabio Cannavaro's pupils opened the scoring quickly in the final match against DR Congo, defensive play in the second half and mistakes led to conceding three consecutive goals (1:3). The turning point of the game was the penalty awarded against us.

The 'Euro-Football' publication rated the performances of some Uzbekistan national team players on a 10-point scale after the match.

Eldor Shomurodov — 7.5 (The team's best player)

The national team captain and top scorer fully fulfilled his duties in this match. He opened the scoring with a beautiful strike, giving the team hope.

• He was active in pressing during the first half and recovered the ball 3 times.

• The team's retreat in the second half also affected him; he lost possession 22 times during the game and missed a great opportunity at the start of the second half. The publication noted that if the team had continued their attacking play, Eldor could have scored again.

Abbosbek Fayzullayev — 7.0

The author of our first World Cup goal had a high-level first half.

• Although he didn't provide the decisive pass for Shomurodov's goal, he contributed significantly to the attack's development by letting the ball run after A. Mozgovoy's pass, thereby deceiving the opponent.

• He was also active in defense, recovering the ball 3 times, and his 4 fouls showed his fighting spirit on the pitch. However, like the rest of the team, he slowed down in the second half.

Abduqodir Husanov — 3.0 (Unfortunate performance)

This match was very difficult for the Manchester City center-back and team star. The publication gave him one of the lowest ratings.

• Penalty episode: He did not act tightly enough against opponent forward Yoane Wissa; when Wissa reached the ball first, Husanov struck his leg, and the referee correctly awarded a penalty.

• Third goal: Husanov allowed Wissa to receive the ball freely and failed to offer resistance. As a result, the opponent easily cut through the half-field to increase the score.