A generation of Uzbekistan getting more and more noticeable by Anderson Zavala
Starting from Eldor Shomurodov making it at Serie A, to Jasurbek Yakhshiboev scoring a goal against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu, takin this into consideration we can say that Uzbek players have conditions to compete at European top level. It can be seen as a tiny achievement, but I consider that this can be a catalyst for Uzbek players to keep showing what they are capable of.
Nowadays, Uzbekistan is becoming into a stronger rival for everyone in the Asian Football Confederation, you can notice that in their style of play, that intensity is something different; it is true they did not make it in the qualifiers, but Uzbekistan is not just the senior team, the U-23 team is also an interesting squad, they won the Asian Cup in 2018, then they got the fourth place in 2020, and in 2022 they were the runners- up.
Being 2022, a successful team with players with a dynamic style in the front, and the first one to be mentioned is Khojimat Erkinov (21), he has even played a legit AFC Champions league with his club “Pakhtakor Tashkent FK”, we can also add to this list Khusayin Norchaev (20) from FC Nasaf Qarshi, a team that made it at current AFC Champions League, another interesting names are Ulugbek Khoshimov (21), and Jasurbek Jaloliddinov (20), they as the main targets for scouts, due to their dynamism in the attack. All the team has played amazingly during the tournament, most players are from FK Olympic and Pakhtakor. Uzbekistan is a great country for young footballers, and those two clubs lead by example.
The best part of Uzbekistan is that clubs have many young players, and the fact that Uzbekistan U-23 is mainly a team made of players of 20 years old or even less, it is awesome. The senior team is starting to employ this great example, we start to see players like Oston Urunov (21) from Spartak Moscow, Ibrokhimkhalil Yuldoshev (21) from Nizhny Novgorod, and Shokhboz Umarov (23) from BATE Borisov.
This is just starting. Good luck, Uzbekistan! There is a lot of potential.