“In my view, there is no favourite in the group. Possibly, many believe that Uzbekistan will face not such strong opponents. But these teams qualified to the World Cup and this show their power,” Uzbekistan Football Federation said on its website quoting Dilshod Nuraliev.

Dilshod Nuraliev said he watched matches of Morocco and the team has 14 players, who play in European leagues. Several players are playing for Belgian sides Standard and Brugge, Italian Inter and Juvetus, Spanish Barcelona.

He said that he was impressed with the team performance. Morocco has strong players and it will be incorrect to say that Morocco is weak.

Uzbek coach added that he received disks with Panama matches. Panama claimed the second place in qualification campaign after losing to Mexico. Croatia is a European side and traditionally it has strong team.

At the same time, Nuraliev expressed hope that his team will show strong performance and won love of fans. He said the matches will be difficult, but players will do their best to protect honour of Uzbekistan and whole Asia.