Greece-like dark horse Uzbekistan stunned traditional Asian soccer powerhouse Saudi Arabia 1-0 in Chengdu, Southwest China��s Sichuan Province on July 22 to become the first of the 16 teams in the ongoing Asian Cup to qualify the group stage.

"We were determined to qualify the group stage, and we have done it," Uzbekistan head coach Khaydarov Avshan said.

Uzbekistan, who had already shocked Asia when they upset Iraq 1-0 in their first Group C match last week, continued to adopt their effective tactics of solid defense and penetrating counter offensive in today's match.

The winning goal came in the 13th minute when Alexander Geynrikh fired a long-distance shot home after dancing past a Saudi defender outside the penalty area.

The victory not only guaranteed Uzbekistan a berth in the quarterfinals, but also featured a revenge as the Central Asian team had been humiliated 5-0 by Saudi Arabia in the last Asian Cup.

"It is important to play games seriously and do everything you can in a match," Avshan said.

Saudi Arabia, the runners-up of the last Asian Cup and the seeds of the Group C this time, had to see a boring start here, getting only one point in two matches. Even though they beat Iraq in the last group match, their fate will be decided by the result of the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan clash.

The Saudi-Uzbek match was just the same as the Portugal-Greece meet in the Euro 2004 in which Greece were crowned in the end.

Thanks to their outstanding skills, Saudi players got much more ball possession in the game. But their wonderful performance was seen only outside the penalty area. They unbelievably squandered too many scoring chances and had to accept the bitter result.

"We have made full preparation for this crucial match but the result is that disappointed," said Saudi Arabia's coach Pieter Vanderlen.

"We came out with the 4-3-3 formation in a bid to win through waves of offensive, but we failed to get what we want," he added.

Responding to a question about the possibility of his resignation, the Dutchman said," No way."

Source: Xinhua