Uzbekistan and Jordan are two of the four highest ranked AFC teams that aren’t playing qualifiers this window, the other two are Qatar and Bahrain, who we of course just played. NZF have done a good job in getting games, considering they’ve had to condense a whole four year cycle into essentially 12 months, from Tokyo to the playoff. Adding in the Tokyo games, it’ll be 17 matches before any playoff, compared to 17 before Bahrain in 2009, 23 before Mexico in 2013 and 25 under Hudson before Peru, so reasonably comparable.
Uzbekistan finished second in their group of Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Singapore and Yemen in second round AFC qualifying, behind Saudi Arabia (who currently top a group ahead of Japan and Australia) with a record of 5-0-3, losing both games to Saudi and one to Palestine. They’ve been involved in all three windows since their qualifying finished, losing to Sweden, Jordan and Georgia, and beating Malaysia. Their squad is almost entirely made up of domestic based players, with most coming from either Pakhtakor Tashkent or Nasaf (who also employ old mate Andrija Kaludjerovic), the two teams that have qualified for next season’s ACL. There are a couple players outside of Central Asia though, namely Eldor Shomurodov, the Chris Wood of the Central Steppe, who signed for Roma from Genoa this year, Jasurbek Yakhshiboev, who became the third Uzbek UCL goal-scorer when he scored for Sheriff against Real Madrid in September, and Ibrokhimkhalil Yudolshev of Nizhny Novgorod and Oston Urunov of Ufa in the Russian Premier League.
Jordan finished third in their Second Round group of Australia, Kuwait, Nepal and Chinese Taipei, just behind Kuwait on goal difference, with four wins, two draws (both vs Kuwait) and two defeats to Australia (who won all 10 of their matches). At the 2019 Asian Cup however, both Jordan and Uzbekistan played against Australia, with Jordan managing to beat Australia 1-0, and Uzbekistan losing on penalties in the RO16 after drawing 0-0. They’ve also been busy with friendlies since qualifying finished in June, and participated in the Arab Cup in Qatar this month. In the friendlies, they’ve beaten Bahrain, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and Kosovo, and suffered defeats to Haiti and Belarus. In the Arab Cup, they upset Saudi Arabia, lost heavily to Morocco, before beating Palestine 5-1 to make the quarterfinals, losing 3-1 aet to Egypt. Their squad is almost entirely based in Jordan, with a few in Qatar, Bahrain and Malaysia. Only one member of the squad is European based, and subsequently missed the Arab Cup, and that is 24 year old Musa Al-Taamari, who plays for Leuven in the Belgian Pro League, and has also won the Cypriot league with APOEL. Jordan also have intercontinental playoff experience, as when we were getting bullied by Mexico in 2013, Jordan were also on the receiving end of 0-5 first leg home loss against Uruguay, before drawing 0-0 in Montevideo. Such is the lottery of the playoff, we could’ve had Jordan, Uruguay or Mexico.
Hay has mentioned that it’s likely we’ll see a few faces that haven’t featured in the previous two windows, and that probably refers to A League guys probably being available, but I hope it also means that he’ll look at a few different European/US guys. The March OFC tournament won’t end up with amateurs, but of the squad vs Gambia, there’s a good chance that the released players could be only: Reid (if still a free agent), Pijnaker, Bell (if still at Viking, based off being released for Olympics), Stamenic, Garbett, Kalua, Smith (no international breaks at League 2 anyway), Champness, Searle and Collier.
For those OFC games, it could be two matches in before we get access to everyone, so for any new guys, this is the last opportunity before being thrown into a must-win game. Half a dozen A League guys got experience in the system in Tokyo, and Payne and Rojas were in the pre-tournament camp in Auckland so also should be able to slot in, however for the fringe guys like Musa, Rogerson, Billingsley etc they would need integration. A possible bolter in January and early March, especially if the A League guys have trouble getting over, is Alex Grieve who’s joined St Mirren in the Scottish Premier League after scoring 21 goals for Birkenhead this year, winning Northern League Player of the Year. He’s worked with Hay before the Olympics, and with Kalua we’ve seen that Hay is not averse to calling up guys who’ve performed at that level who are over in Europe at the moment. As great as Chris Wood is, he’s played every minute we’ve seen under Hay in the last six months, so we need someone to deputise effectively.
Awesome summary and yeah will be a good hit out for the team. I wonder if NZF and the Nix will come to an agreement that we don’t select the Nix AWS for Jan on the condition they’re available for those outside of window games in March? Might be a good trade off.
Although tbh I’m not across the rules in AUS for non Australian citizens entering the country without MIQ so they could be unavailable in Jan in any case?
Each state is different, but I think vaccinated non Australians can enter NSW. Also Oli Sail is an Aussie citizen anyway. Same Dane Ingham I understand. Storm Roux maybe another.