Uzbekistan went into the clash just needing a point to secure their passage into the knockout stage but fell behind after six minutes when Yu Hai's glancing header crept over the line after hitting Odil Akhmedov.

The converted centre-back made up for his misfortune on the half-hour mark when he latched onto Server Djeparov's delightful pass and beat keeper Yang Zhi from close range before Alexander Geynrikh gave the Central Asians the lead just after the break.

However Hao Junmin, who had an excellent game, leveled the encounter in the 56th minute with a superb free-kick and although China pressed hard for a winning goal, they were unable to breach the Uzbekistan rearguard.

“The first round has finished, we're top of the group, it was a great game and I think everybody is happy,” said Abramov

“I want to thank my players because they played very well in the group games. The result was satisfactory for us, which is why we played more defensively today.”

China assistant coach Fu Bo felt Uzbekistan were fortunate to come away from the encounter with a point as they wasted a number of good openings and saw Zhao Xuri hit the bar with a fierce strike in the first-half.

Abramov, though, refuted the claim, instead pointing his own side's profligacy.

“I don't think we were lucky,” he added.

“We played very well and had many chances to score, for example when (Maksim) Shatskikh could not score in the opening minutes.

“I think many things depend on the psychology of the players. The last two games against Qatar and Kuwait were very hard and very tough games against two strong teams. We had six points going into the game with China but we were not guaranteed to qualify to the next round.”

A tie against either Japan, Jordan or Syria awaits in the last eight but Abramov is unconcerned over who his side will face, instead focusing on improving his side's defending if they are to lift their first continental title.

“I don't care who we play in the next round,” he stressed.

“We don't choose any team because all the teams in the next round will be very strong.

“The defence hasn't played so well, too many mistakes and now I have some time before the next game so I will see what I can do.”