Uzbekistan's football coach on Olympic performance: "We did our best despite limited time"

According to Timur Kapadze, three and a half years ago, the leadership set a high goal for the team. During this period, a long path was traveled, many young people found their place in football and received a chance to play for the national team at the Olympics.

"We did our best to take our football to a new level. Now, this is history," added the coach.

He also commented on the preparation of the athletes for the competition.

"As for the Olympics, after the Asian Cup, we did not have much time. We worked for 3.5 years on the possibility of getting to the Olympic Games, and that undoubtedly pleased us. Many of our legionnaires ended their careers, some got tired, and some changed teams. Perhaps if we had more time, things would have been different. As for the preparation, as I already mentioned, we had little time. There were difficulties in forming the squad," Timur Kapadze noted.

"We all know the talent and strength of our senior players. They were capable of more. I am grateful to them. This is a team game. The main thing is that we could have won all the matches, but we were unlucky somewhere," added the head coach.

He also reflected on the results of the recent match with Spain.

"We analyzed the recent matches of the Spanish players. Of course, we had our shortcomings. The strategy we chose worked well, especially in the first half. But we gave Spain a chance in the second half. We played well against them and had every opportunity. After this game, we analyzed their game and ours. We were not weaker than the opponent, we could have at least achieved a draw," concluded Timur Kapadze.