Welcome to the World Cup, Uzbekistan.
The doubly landlocked country will come into this tournament as an unknown, but they do have a couple of familiar faces at the center of their story.
Fabio Cannavaro, who was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or in 2006 thanks to his part in Italy’s World Cup triumph, was named manager of Uzbekistan in 2025, and he’s got quite the protege in center-back Abdukodir Khusanov.
Khusanov, 22, played his way into the starting XI for Manchester City this past season.
Cannavaro, Khusanov, and the rest of the White Wolves are a massive underdog against Colombia at the Estadio Azteca on Wednesday night.
Like a lot of the long shots in the World Cup, Uzbekistan knows how its gravy needs to be made. They’re a big, physical side, but they’re miles behind Colombia in terms of talent and playmaking.
Cannavaro and Italy won the 2006 World Cup with an elite defense, monikered “The Berlin Wall,” and he’ll know that his Uzbek squad’s only hope of winning any points will be through playing within itself.
Don’t expect the Uzbeks to put Colombia under heaps of pressure, but they will try to break on the counter, and hoof crosses into 6-foot-3 striker Eldor Shomurodov, who is a handful to deal with in the air.
While Uzbekistan will sit deep and play with pragmatism, Colombia will want to be on the front foot for this entire match.
Luis Diaz is the talisman for Los Cafeteros, and he’ll do everything he can to draw Uzbek defenders out of position, opening up space for James Rodriguez, Andres Gomez, or Luis Suarez to operate.
Colombia will need Diaz, one of the great 1-v-1 players in the world, on his game, as it won’t make much sense to cross the ball into the box with all the giant Uzbek defenders in the mixer.
As we saw with Saudi Arabia against Uruguay or Cape Verde against Spain, a disciplined low block can frustrate an opponent that wants to play through you, so it will be up to Colombia to keep its cool if it can’t get through the Uzbek lines in the early going.
Look for a patient approach from Colombia, as they’ll be wary of getting hit on the break by Uzbekistan, knowing that they’ll be vulnerable to counterattacks with Shomurodov on the lookout for longballs and crosses.
This one may take a long while to get going, if it ever gets there.
The Play: Under 2.5 goals (-110, FanDuel)
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
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