DUSHANBE, September 5, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan’s national soccer team will play against DPR Korea tomorrow.
They will look to get their campaigns up and running when they clash in Pyongyang on Tuesday, while the Uzbeks host Japan in a top-of-the-table clash on the same day.
We will recall that Tajikistan lost the game against Uzbekistan 0-1. Veteran forward Maksim Shatskikh”s second-half strike was enough to see Uzbekistan defeat Tajikistan 1-0 as they opened their 2014 FIFA World Cup, Asian qualifying round Group C campaigns. Tajikistan had been handed a World Cup lifeline by FIFA after Syria was kicked out of the competition having fielded an ineligible player. Tajik soccer players held out against the 2011 AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists for more than three-quarters of the match but with the clock at the Metallurg Stadium in the Tajik city of Tursunzoda ticking down, Shatskikh struck in the 72nd minute. Tajikistan couldn”t find a reply to the 33-year-old Arsenal Kyiv striker”s effort and Uzbekistan joined Japan as the early frontrunners in Group C after the reigning Asian champions edged DPR Korea by an identical 1-0 scoreline on Friday.
