Qatar Vs Uzbekistan

Qatar vs Uzbekistan

AFC Asian Cup 2011

Khalifa International Stadium

7th January 2011

19:15 UTC+3

The AFC Asian Cup 2011 gets underway on Friday evening and hosts Qatar will be aiming for a victorious start to the event. Central Asian giants Uzbekistan will be their opponents at the Khalifa Stadium and you can bet on Qatar vs Uzbekistan with PaddyPower after reading our preview at Sportsbookie.com.

Qatar have made seven appearances in the Asian Cup and their best performance has been a last eight finish in 2000. But they are coached by Bruno Metsu, the man who orchestrated Senegal's stunning upset of France at the 2002 World Cup and who certainly knows a thing or two of how to get the best out of his players.

Home advantage should help Qatar as it did at the 2006 Asian Games. The Gulf side have also produced some impressive results in the recent past, most prominent of them being a 2-1 defeat of seven time African champions Egypt at home.

Qatar form- last five games- most recent first- Qatar scorers in brackets-

Qatar 0-1 North Korea

Qatar 0-0 Iran

Qatar 2-0 Estonia ( Sebastian Soria)

Qatar 2-1 Egypt ( Sebastian Soria, own goal)

Qatar 1-1 Saudi Arabia (Ibrahim Al Ghanim)

Sebastian Soria, born in Uruguay, is a naturalised Qatari citizen, and was the only player to score for the country in the 2007 Asian Cup.

Uzbekistan are expected to play a physical game and coach Vadim Abramov will want his defence to shore up-they have not kept a clean sheet since their September 2009 draw against Iran. Since Abramov took over, Uzbekistan have only won once in seven games, a 4-2 away win at Bahrain in October.

Uzbekistan form- last five games- most recent first- Uzbekistan scorers in brackets-

Jordan 2-2 Uzbekistan (Jasur Hasanov, Olim Navkarov)

Bahrain 1-1 Uzbekistan (Alexander Geynrikh)

Bahrain 2-4 Uzbekistan (Olim Navkarov, Alexander Geynrikh, Odil Ahmedov, Maksim Shatskikh

Saudi Arabia 4-0 Uzbekistan

Estonia 3-3 Uzbekistan (Shavkat Salomov, Maksim Shatskikh, Alexander Geynrikh)

Verdict:- This match should have more than a single goal in it.

Qatar 2-1 Uzbekistan (Sebastian Soria, Hussain Yasser/Maksim Shatskikh)