More than 100 Uzbek fans have flown into the city, keen to egg on Vadim Abramov’s men who are still not assured of a berth in the last eight despite winning their first two matches.

Uzbekistan need a point off China to advance deeper into the tournament and the Uzbek fan club, nowhere in comparison to the hordes of Chinese fans who have descended upon this city, is fervently hoping that they will be able to raise the spirits of the team.

“We want to thank the team for the two wonderful opening wins,” said the Uzbek fan club leader Abdurahman Fazylov at the Aspire FanZone where a cultural show was being mounted by the Central Asians.

“Vadim had claimed that the players would peak and that is how it has been this January. We are playing really well.

“The team’s performance has not only pleased us so far but also impressed everyone all over the world. We believe the national team of Uzbekistan will get a historic result in this tournament,” added Fazylov, as his comrades-in-arm nodded enthusiastically.

The Uzbeks reached the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2007 but were luckless against Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively.

Fazylov also had praise for the tournament organisation and facilities for fans by a country that will organise the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

“When Qatar won the right to host the World Cup (in 2022), many were skeptical of the decision by FIFA and had doubts about the facilities and a lot of things. But this Asian Cup clearly shows that Qatar is capable of the best organisation.

“To be honest I am fascinated by the efforts carried out by all to ensure a great tournament.”

When not screaming their lungs out for the likes of Maksim Shatskikh and Server Djeparov, the fan club keeps itself busy with cultural shows aimed at raising the profile of their country.

“Yes, we try to put up cultural shows, folk acts in foreign countries so that people know more about our, Uzbekistan’s great culture and people. We are a very active fan club in that sense as we don’t restrict ourselves to only football.”

And it is not just the players they will be flocking to the stadium to watch. There is another major attraction in the form of Ravshan Irmatov, the current AFC Referee of the Year, who enjoys superstar status in Uzbekistan.

“We went to the Iran-Iraq match at the Al Rayyan Stadium as it was refereed by Ravshan,” said Fazylov.

“He is the best referee in the continent for three years now and this must be the first time someone cheered a referee on!” laughed the Uzbek diehard.