Uzbekistan beat Kuwait 2-1 in the Asian Cup on Wednesday to take top spot in Group A and all but end the Kuwaitis hopes of advancing.
Needing the win, Kuwait went on the attack from the start and had the better chances, though its finishing was often sloppy. It was the Uzbeks who took the lead when Alexander Geynrikh was brought down outside the area in the 41st minute. Masim Shatskikh's free kick deflected off Azizbek Haydarov into the net.
Kuwait leveled in the 48th after Walied Ali was brought down in the area and Bader al-Mutwa slotted home the penalty. But Uzbekistan substitute Jasur Khasanov crossed to Server Djeparov for the winner in the 64th. Kuwait stepped up the pressure and had several opportunities to equalize, the best when substitute Ahmad Ajab's point-blank shot in the 81st went over the crossbar.
It was Kuwait's second straight loss after a 2-1 defeat to China in its first match. Qatar's 2-0 victory over China later Wednesday helped Kuwait's chances of advancing, but the team must now beat Qatar in the final round and hope China loses to Uzbekistan.
That would put all three teams at three points, leaving goal difference to decide which team advances.
''It's a very bad feeling after these two matches,'' Kuwait coach Goran Tufegdzic. ''Our target was to qualify for the second round. But now, what can I do? It's football.''
Tufegdzic's team had come into the tournament riding high after winning the Gulf Cup last year. But the Serbian coach blamed Wednesday's poor performance on the loss of left back Mesaed Nada, who was suspended after picking up a red card in the team's loss to China, and inexperience among some of his players.
''We lost many, many chances,'' he said. ''It's very difficult. What can I do? It's football. Maybe your team needs a little luck and in the last two games, we weren't lucky.''
It was another poor result for the Gulf teams, with host Qatar having lost 2-0 to Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia dropping its opener against Syria.
Uzbekistan is looking to surpass its previous best finish, having twice lost in the quarterfinals. But while coach Vadim Abramov was ''happy'' with the win, he said his defense needs to improve after struggling to contain the speedy Kuwait strikers.
''This is a big tournament and whomever wins this is the best in Asia. We don't want to go down until the final,'' he said. ''I am very happy we beat Kuwait today. I think we can make a surprise and I hope Uzbekistan will be champions of this tournament, though we have many other good teams like Australia, South Korea, Japan and Iran.''
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Lineups:
Uzbekistan: Ingantiy Nesterov, Anzur Ismailov, Azizbek Haydarov, Server Djeparov, Odil Akhmedov, Stanislav Andreev, Alexander Geynrikh (Olim Novkarov, 74), Maksim Shatskikh (Jasur Khasanov, 54), Sanjar Turnsunov (Vagiz Galiulin, 90), Timur Kapadze Viktor Karpenko.
Kuwait: Nawaf al-Khaldi, Yaqoub al-Taher, Fahad Awad (Ahmad Ajab, 79), Hussain Fadhel, Amer Matoug, Fahad al-Enezi, Talal al-Amer, Walied Ali (Abdulaziz Mashan, 71), Bader al-Mutwa, Jarah al-Ateeqi, Yousef Naser.
