Oliver and I attended the Uzbekistan versus Turkmenistan Asian Football Confederation (AFC) World Cup Qualifier Match last night at Bunyodkor National Stadium in Tashkent. Uzbekistan was the clearly better team and dominated for a 3-1 victory. The stadium was almost full and the highlight for me was to spend time with my son and his friend Tristan. Oliver loves soccer and I was pleased to help us go to the game. It was a bit of a hassle to find parking, enter the stadium and find our seats, but overall, it was an entertaining experience.
There are 46 teams in the AFC and they are playing for 8 guaranteed spots (a ninth spot may be granted if an AFC wins a playoff against the South American representative) in the 2026 World Cup that will be hosted by Mexico, USA, and Canada. They are almost at the end of the Second Round and Uzbekistan and Iran will advance to the Third Round in this group. Uzbekistan will be one of 18 teams in the third round, vying for the 8 spaces. The top teams in the region in the third round will be Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Iran.
I predict Uzbekistan will make it for the first time in their history! I noticed two good players on the team. #11 Oston Urunov, a 23-year old attacking midfielder who plays in the Iranian league. The captain, Eldor Shomurorov, a tall (6 foot 3 inches) striker that plays for Cagliari in the Italian Serie A club, is also a great passer and goal scorer. The third round starts in September 2024 and finishes in June of 2025 and so hopefully I can go to another match next school year.
I was tickled to see Ocean building a pergola in her design class at school earlier this week. She loves working with her hands and is quite good at woodworking and contract work. Her Uncle Andy would be proud! The class designed and is building an outdoor relaxation area for the school which includes two topchans, an outdoor pizza oven, and a pergola sitting area.
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