Cannavaro: We Made Mistakes, But Friendly Matches Are for That

On June 2, Uzbekistan's national team played a friendly match against Canada (2:0). After the game, Uzbekistan's head coach Fabio Cannavaro shared his thoughts on the game, the opponent, and the World Cup group at a press conference.

Mistakes are inevitable in any match. It's better to make mistakes in friendly matches like this, rather than in important games 10 days from now. That's football. In the first half, my team played with passion and aggression. In the second half, they tried to take control of the ball, but lost intensity and made several mistakes. In such games, if you make mistakes, you get punished.

I expected my players to maintain the same intensity as in the first half. We've been working on playing at a high intensity since I arrived. I know the difference between Asian football and international football. It's not easy, but I saw many positive things in my team in the first half.

I've been following the Canadian team for a while. I have many friends there. Over the past three or four years, the team has improved significantly. Football has become very popular in Canada. I talked to many of my friends, and today I saw many talented players.

When you play at a high intensity, injuries can happen. So far, nothing serious has happened. We'll see tomorrow and the day after. I think the biggest problem for everyone today was the cold weather. Nevertheless, many fans came to the stadium. It was pleasant to play with such support.

If you have the opportunity to play in such a stadium, you should enjoy and appreciate it. We should thank the fans who came to support us. It wasn't easy to come to the stadium in this cold weather today.

Portugal, Colombia, and Congo are very strong teams. Two of them are among the best teams in the world. We know it will be very difficult to play against them. But I told my players: we have nothing to lose. This is the country's first World Cup, so I'll tell them one thing - enjoy it. The opportunity to play in the World Cup doesn't come often.

Husanov is a very good player. He can still improve, as he has great potential. Sometimes he becomes too aggressive, but now he needs to learn to read situations better. However, as a defender, he's a very good player.

Let's remind you that Uzbekistan will play another friendly match against the Netherlands in New York on June 8 as part of the World Cup preparations. The national team will play their first World Cup match against Colombia on June 18 at 8:00 Tashkent time.