Uzbeks look to Lucky Bob

FootballAsia October 7 Bobby Houghton, head coach of Uzbekistan, may have coached Malmo to the European Cup final in 1979 but the Englishman has yet to taste similar success as a national team coach. That may all change should the man whose only other previous national experience was with China between 1998-2000 lead Uzbekistan to their first appearance at a World Cup finals. Houghton, who took over as coach of the central Asians in August, is already something of a legend in the central Asian republic, with fans hailing him as the country's lucky charm depsite the fact that his charges were anything but lucky when denied a win against Bahrain last month in the first leg of the World Cup AFC Play-off by a bizarre displaying of refereeing. After seeing his charges come back from 2-0 down against Kuwait to win 3-2 in his first game in charge, a win that took the Asian Cup 2004 quarter-finalists into the play-off against Bahrain, who finished third in Group B, Houghton is hoping Lady Luck will once again smile down on his team in the Pakhatkor Stadium in Taskhent on Saturday afternoon. "It's time the Uzbekistan national team got some luck," Houghton told footballasia.com ahead of the game against Bahrain, which is only taking place after FIFA decided to declare null and void the result of the first game last month, which the Uzbeks won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mirdjalal Kasimov. "So far, they haven't been very lucky," continued Houghton. "Things even themselves out normally and, in that sense, this team deserves some fortune, some justice. "They conceded a last-minute equaliser against Korea Republic during the Group Stage and then, last month, the referee made a crazy decision with the penalty. "If you go back a bit further, Uzbekistan lost in the Asian Cup on penalties and they were unlucky then because when Leonid Koshelov came up to take the penalty, one of the Bahrain players got injured, and it took five minutes before he [Koshelo] was allowed to take the kick, which he missed." Houghton, although initially perplexed by, first, the referee's decision to award Bahrain a free-kick for encroachment by Uzbekistan rather than re-take the penalty, and then by FIFA's decision to replay the game, has put that to one side and now sees the game as an opportunity to build a decent lead ahead of Wednesday;s second leg rather than lament the win they were denied a month ago. "Nobody knows who will benefit from this decision to annul the previous result," said the man who turns 58 next Thursday. "May be we will beat Bahrain 2-0 or 3-0 in Tashkent but even if we only win 1-0, I think we will qualify to play against the CONCACAF representative. "Winning 2-0 will be better, but I still think 1-0 is enough." Millions of Uzbek fans are hoping that Lady Luck, only an occasional visitor to Tashkent recently, makes a welcome appearance on Saturday.