Uzbekistan will start the fourth round of the Asian World Cup qualifying competition without five players after what appeared to be a cunning plan to use a "dead rubber" to wipe out yellow cards back-fired The five players were all booked for time-wasting in the last 20 minutes of November's World Cup qualifier against Tajikistan, who have lost all five games in third round Group C, have not scored and conceded 17 goals. Uzbekistan won 3-0. Having already qualified for the next stage, the bookings meant the quintet had each accumulated two yellow cards in the competition to earn one-match bans they had hoped to serve in a meaningless final group game against North Korea. However, FIFA confirmed on Friday that the players had been handed an extra one-match ban, meaning they will miss the opening match of the fourth stage of qualifying as well. “Between the 70th minute (with Uzbekistan already winning 2-0) and the conclusion of the match, five Uzbekistan players - who had already received one yellow card in previous matches in round three of the AFC preliminary competition - were cautioned in separate incidents for deliberately delaying the restart of the match,” FIFA said in a statement. “Shavkatjon Mulladjanov, Sanjar Tursunov, Islom Tuhtahujaev, Server Djeparov and Vagiz Galiulin have been sanctioned with a one-match suspension, to be served during Uzbekistan's first match in Round 4 of the Asian preliminary competition for the 2014 World Cup, in addition to the automatic suspension incurred for two yellow cards. “Each player has also been fined 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,200).” FIFA, which also fined the Uzbek federation 18,000 Swiss francs, said the decision was taken “having reviewed the official match reports and footage of the incidents, as well as taking into consideration all of the circumstances”. The fourth round of the competition consists of two groups of five teams, with the draw to be held in Kuala Lumpur in March. The five players were all booked for time-wasting in the last 20 minutes of November's World Cup qualifier against Tajikistan, who have lost all five games in third round Group C, have not scored and conceded 17 goals. Uzbekistan won 3-0. Having already qualified for the next stage, the bookings meant the quintet had each accumulated two yellow cards in the competition to earn one-match bans they had hoped to serve in a meaningless final group game against North Korea. However, FIFA confirmed on Friday that the players had been handed an extra one-match ban, meaning they will miss the opening match of the fourth stage of qualifying as well. “Between the 70th minute (with Uzbekistan already winning 2-0) and the conclusion of the match, five Uzbekistan players - who had already received one yellow card in previous matches in round three of the AFC preliminary competition - were cautioned in separate incidents for deliberately delaying the restart of the match,” FIFA said in a statement. “Shavkatjon Mulladjanov, Sanjar Tursunov, Islom Tuhtahujaev, Server Djeparov and Vagiz Galiulin have been sanctioned with a one-match suspension, to be served during Uzbekistan's first match in Round 4 of the Asian preliminary competition for the 2014 World Cup, in addition to the automatic suspension incurred for two yellow cards. “Each player has also been fined 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,200).” FIFA, which also fined the Uzbek federation 18,000 Swiss francs, said the decision was taken “having reviewed the official match reports and footage of the incidents, as well as taking into consideration all of the circumstances”. The fourth round of the competition consists of two groups of five teams, with the draw to be held in Kuala Lumpur in March. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter: @AO_Sports) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/34760.aspx
