Uzbekistan Lose Their Captain

It’s obviously not very sporting to cheer at your opposition’s injuries, so in my most subdued voice, Uzbekistan’s main scoring threat Maxim Shatskikh will not be playing on Wednesday night.

The World Game reports that the Dynamo Kyiv striker will miss the crucial match due to sickness, and won’t even be on the plane for Sydney. This is obviously a massive blow for the visitors, as they had just looked to be hitting top gear with a convincing 4-0 win over Qatar on Saturday night to give themselves an outside chance of qualification.

The World Game also reports that fellow dangerman Server Djeparov, who caused us so much concern the last time the two teams faced off, is also suffering from an injury sustained in the Qatar match. However, he is expected to recover and take the field on Wednesday night.

With two of their big names struggling, the rest of the Uzbek side will need to lift as a loss against the Socceroos will severely jeopardise their road to 2010. With the third place play-off spot looking as their best chance at qualification, the Uzbeks still must oust Bahrain and Qatar, with all three teams sitting on four points from five games.

Meanwhile, Socceroo striker Scotty McDonald is expected to lead the line for the home side on Wednesday, with an interview on The World Game confirming that neither he nor Josh Kennedy are the two mysterious injured attackers. Bruce Djite, called up last week in light of the injury concerns, remains in the 23 man squad.

Of course, as mentioned by several readers of this blog (and now reminded emphatically by Fox Sports during every single ad break) a win for the Green and Gold coupled with a draw between Bahrain and Qatar will cement our spot at South Africa 2010.

Come on boys. Go the Socceroos.

Should Scott McDonald start against Uzbekistan?
( surveys)