TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan thrashed Taiwan
7-0 in their World Cup Asian zone group seven opener on Monday
but Jordan suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat by Turkmenistan.
The Jordanians were considered group favourites before the
tournament, but two second-half goals from Dzhumadurdy Meredov
and Redzhepmurat Agabayev gave Turkmenistan their most memorable
win since the Soviet break-up in 1991.
Jordan's problems have been compounded by a red card to
Haitham Semrin, who will now have to miss Wednesday's game
against Taiwan.
Meanwhile in the second match on Monday, the Uzbeks, urged
on by a near-capacity 47,000 home crowd at Tashkent's Pakhtakor
Stadium, ran circles around the Taiwan defence, scoring five
times before the break.
Spartak Moscow striker Jafar Irismetov scored twice in the
first 23 minutes and added two more goals after the interval to
complete the rout. All four of his goals were headers.
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