Uzbekistan came from behind after China took an early lead through captain Hu Jie in the 4th minute. Sviridov brought the match at 1-1 level in the 19th minute and Dilshod, the scorer against Kuwait on Saturday, scored the winner in the 36th minute.

Uzbekistan survived a late scare when China were awarded penalty with less than two minutes to go but Liang Zhao’s shot was saved by Uzbek goalie Rustam Umarov.

After Jie’s early goal, Uzbekistan were marginally a better sides but the match was evenly contested with both the sides misfiring in front of the goal. Ardus forward Sviridov ensured the Uzbeks go to the halftime with honours even by finding the net in the 19th minutes off the rebound off China goalie Cong Lin.

Referee Nurdin Bukuev showed red card to China’ captain and goalscorer just one minute into the second half which was, according to China coach Franco Carvalho Guilherme, was the turning point of the match.

“I have a reservation on that decision, players just get away with those minor fouls but we lost our captain, who is also our key player,” he said after the match.

“Uzbekistan were brilliant, so we were. A goalscoring draw would have been a fair result,” said the Brazilian who termed Zhao’s missed penalty as ‘part of the game’.

When it looked like that both the sides were sharing points, Dilshod received a rebound off goalie Cong and coolly directed it inside the net while getting the winner.

“It was a tough match indeed, China played well but after a weak start yesterday against Kuwait we found our groove back,” Uzbekistan’s Spanish coach Pazos Mandez Jose Maria said.

“I am happy with the performance and there are some individual mistakes, like the one that was resulted in the penalty so we have to be careful in future,” he said.

“Now we have to beat Indonesia which will be a tough game as they have nothing to lose and they are very strong team,” he quipped.

Uzbekistan is level on points with leaders Kuwait who enjoy healthy goal difference due to their mammoth 9-3 win over Indonesia earlier. For China to remain in the tournament, they must beat Kuwait on Sunday as anything less than that would not be sufficient for them. China’s captain Hu Jie is suspended to feature against Kuwait.