Uzbekistan Challenging Traditional Asian Powers
Typically one would expect for the likes of Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia, and to a lesser extent China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia to qualify for the World Cup from the AFC. This holds true today as Iran is leading one qualifying group, and Saudi Arabia is leading the other. However, there is one surprise team that hasn't really had much success in the past but is now looking like they have massive potential - Uzbekistan. A former member of the Soviet Union, the country has technically experienced competing in the World Cup, but never so as an independent country since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This current group of players is looking to change that fact.
On paper, the players themselves don't look extremely formidable to opponents. There is only a few who ply their trade in Russia and a few more who play in China. Aside from these more well-known leagues, a majority of the remaining players play domestically in the Uzbekistani league with most playing for clubs located in the country's capital, Tashkent. It's quite remarkable that this group with relatively minimal experience with soccer at the highest level are doing so well at the moment.
One could argue that Iran also lacks a ton of experience as well, but their squad includes a few more players from the so called "big leagues" and they of course are fresh off playing in the 2014 World Cup. Then there is South Korea who has several very talented and well-known players, and China with its players competing in the lucrative Chinese Super League. This makes Uzbekistan arguably the biggest underdog of the group aside from Syria and Qatar, but both of them have already put their qualifying hopes in jeopardy with non-spectacular starts.
November the 15th will be one of the biggest days in the history of Uzbekistan football. That is the date they are scheduled to play South Korea and will be absolutely crucial in determining the turn out in this group. If Uzbekistan can pull of another shock and beat South Korea then they will go a massive 5 points ahead of the Koreans. This would be a huge boost for Uzbekistan because it offers some insurance in terms of points for when they inevitably slip up given the inexperience of their squad at the top level. I believe that regardless of the result of this match though, they will need to ensure that they record wins over the inferior sides of Syria and Qatar. A win over a very much beatable Chinese side would also be very beneficial. Any points against group leaders Iran would also go a long way. These aforementioned steps would most likely allow Uzbekistan to go into their final group against South Korea possibly without it being a must-win game.
It is a little premature to be hyping this team up so much because technically with 6 more matches, they still could fall well short of qualifying. Nevertheless, this hot start is very encouraging from a side I didn't expect to still be very competitive at this stage of the qualifying campaign. If they were to qualify, it would bring World Cup football to a region that aside from Iran has yet to experience World Cup soccer.
