A strike from captain Server Djeparov 10 minutes before half-time cancelled out Mus’ab Al Lahham’s 30th minute opener for Jordan at King Abdullah International Stadium.

And with Uzbekistan hosting Tuesday’s second leg in Tashkent, Kasimov’s side are favourites to remain on course for a maiden FIFA World Cup appearance by advancing to November’s intercontinental play-off with South American opposition.

“Jordan are a good team and they showed that. We saw they had fantastic support and that helped Jordan play well, but we were very good and in the first half we were better than our opponent,” said Kasimov (pictured) prior to heading to Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport for a direct flight back to Tashkent.

“In the second half we lost control and that allowed Jordan to attack more, but I am satisfied with the players.

“We achieved the minimum goal and now I believe we will do our job in Tashkent and qualify for the next round. It will be decided in Tashkent, but with our supporters we will play for them and I believe we will qualify.”

Uzbekistan, who missed out on automatic qualification for the 2014 finals on goal difference from Group B, enjoyed the better start to the contest but Jordan showed why they had claimed all their points during the final round at King Abdullah International Stadium as Al Lahham rounded off a swift team move with a cool finish 15 minutes before half-time.

Djeparov, though, swept home Jasur Khasanov’s pull back five minutes later, and despite Jordan producing a strong finish, Uzbekistan survived to earn a well-deserved draw.

“We weren’t surprised by Jordan as we felt like we knew a lot about them,” added Kasimov who lost at the same stage of qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a player following defeat by Bahrain on away goals.

“They have good quality players and Odai Al Saify and Abdallah Deeb did a better job when they came on as substitutes in the second half, but I still believe we will do what we need to in Tashkent.”

Coach Hossam Hassan blamed a lack of match sharpness for Friday’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan in their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification play-off.

“The difference between this game and the games we played against Australia and Japan is the timing of the game as those games were played during the middle of the season,” said Hassan (pictured) following only his second competitive game in charge of Jordan after succeeding Adnan Hamad following the completion of the final round of qualifiers in June.

“The players were a lot fitter, but now some of the players have only played five games and some have not played any games with their clubs.”

“At the beginning of the match we lost concentration, but we still managed to score,” added Hassan, who played for Egypt at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

“The players did not apply what I had told them, but we were still able to score a goal.

“We did have chances in the second half after I made some substitutions and that was good for us.

“It is still half-time and we will play the second game in Tashkent on Tuesday.”