The Indians came back twice through Uttam Rai’s two perfectly taken headers but the Uzbeks had the last laugh after second half substitute Abdiganiyev Ilhomjon scored the decisive 11 minutes from time. Earlier Odilov Mukhiddin opened Uzbek’s account in the 8th minute and later after Rai’s equalizer a mistimed tackle by Mohammed Sajid gave away the penalty for the Uzbeks and Ibrokhim Abduallev converted.

Uzbekistan, who defeated the Indians 9-0 in the qualifiers of this tournament, dictated the pace of the match in the beginning and were duly rewarded with a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute. Forward Mukhiddin Odilov sneaked in to gather a pass from Izzatilla Abdullaev and rounded off Indian goalie Supratim Bhattacharjee who had a brilliant match under the bar.

The Indian defenders and Bhattacharjee combined to stop the Uzbeks add more goals in the first half. India made their occasional moves count and Rai scored a poacher’s header off the freekick of Alen Deory to make it 1-1 two minutes into the second half.

India were unlucky as Sajid conceded a penalty and Abduallev sent Bhattacharjee the wrong way to regain the lead for the Uzbeks in the 53rd minute. Rai was again in action as amid the confusion amongst Indian defenders he popped up the goal off a second half substitute Raja Rawat’s cross to bring the match once again at level in the 71st minute.

As Uzbeks were in danger of not getting full points from the match, Ilhomjon collected a brilliant cross from defender Islom Ismoilov and scored the decisive winner with just 11 minutes remaining.

India will take on Syria while Uzbekistan face another group favourite China on Tuesday.

Uzbekistan coach Dilshod Nuraliyev has blamed his team of having complacency after a late goal rescued his side in Uzbekistan’s far from impressive 3-2 win over India.

The Indians hit back twice in the action packed match but Abdiganiyev Ilhomjon scored late which separated the team.

“At this age level you are expected to cope with this situation as our players were the victim of complacency today,” he said referring Uzbekistan’s 9-0 win over India during the qualifiers.

“With such an easy match in the qualifiers, the players took things lightly but we came back strong and all that matters is three points in your first match of a tournament,” he said.

“We have to work really hard against our other oppositions in the group and even our coaching staff has to analyze today’s mistake and make sure that we won’t repeat those again in the tournament,” he said as Uzbekistan will be preparing to take on China on Tuesday.

Nuraliyev’s counterpart Colm Toal urged the players to keep their head high despite the loss. The Englishman stressed that for a team like India playing good football and giving their opponents a good run are more important.

“We are talking about India playing Uzbekistan who are one of the top countries in Asia and giving them a good chase and scoring two goals past them are the clear sign of progression,” he said.

“Our back four alongside with the goalkeepers were brilliant today, we brought the match at level twice so a point each would have been fair result. If you look at the circumstances we conceded the goals it’s unbelievable; the first was penalty and the second was scored when we were only 10-man in the field due to an injured player,” he said.