Uzbekistan coach Aleksey Evstafeev told FIFA.com: "We did a good job here. We proved to the whole world that we have a great team. I told my players they could be proud of themselves despite the defeat. They deserve to be thanked because they did fantastically well. I want to thank them."

This was the Central Asians' first appearance at this level.

"I refuse to say that some of this success is down to me," he said. "In fact, for me, it's a great result but not as far as we can go. We still have a lot of work to do. I'd also like to underline the work of the Uzbek government and the Uzbekistan Football Federation in training youngsters and helping football in our country more generally. They give a lot and we owe it to ourselves to fight hard on the pitch in return.

"It's symbolic that, for the most part, my players were born in 1994, the same year as Uzbekistan's last big win, in the Asian Games (Hiroshima)," added Evstafeev. "I hope that's a sign."

Evstafeev underlined the importance of experience garnered in such tournaments.

"Just taking part in a tournament like this gives you a lot of experience, and that goes for both players and staff," said the coach. "We've learnt an enormous amount by playing against the best teams in the world. The future of Uzbek football is ours to build."