Valery Nepomnyashchy on yesterday's match: "Uzbekistan's bench is weak"

13 November 2026, 08:132 min read68

The intense and uncompromising friendly match between the national teams of Uzbekistan and Russia (2:3) at the Pakhtakor Stadium in Tashkent is sparking widespread discussion. The fact that the visitors came back from a 0:2 deficit to completely turn the game around in the second half and secure a comeback victory is being hotly debated by the football community.

Former head coach of the Uzbekistan national team Valery Nepomnyashchy shared his thoughts on the widely covered match in an interview with the "RB Sport" publication.

"The score in the first half did not fully reflect the events on the pitch"

According to the experienced expert, the numbers on the scoreboard after the first half did not fully represent the true picture of the game. He noted that the Russian national team conceded two very unlucky and strange goals, but despite this, the hosts also faced enough dangerous situations in front of their goal.

"The main conclusion that Russian players should draw from this game is that such mistakes are not forgiven at the national team level. At the same time, I would like to highlight the character and great desire to win shown by Valery Karpin's charges," said Nepomnyashchy.

Key points of the expert's analysis	Details and comments
The scene in the first half	The score did not fully reveal the actual events on the pitch
Russia's success	The character and desire to win of Karpin's charges
Main factor of defeat	The Uzbekistan national team's bench being weaker compared to the opponent's
Upcoming tests	New friendly matches for both teams on November 17

The role of the bench and future plans

Valery Nepomnyashchy also touched on another important aspect that influenced the turning point in the game and the visitors' victory. According to him, the fact that the Uzbekistan national team's bench was weaker than Russia's had an impact on the outcome of the match.

As a reminder, as part of the November training camp program, the Russian national team will play its next friendly match against the Venezuela national team on Tuesday, November 17, at the Ozon Arena stadium in Krasnodar. On the same day, the Uzbekistan national team will face the Saudi Arabia national team at a stadium in Doha, the capital of Qatar (the match starts at 20:00 Tashkent time).

Do you think the difference in the benches really decided the result in the final minutes of the game, as the experienced expert noted? Leave your opinion in the comments!