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FIFA World Cup

Portugal vs Uzbekistan: The White Wolves Face the Ronaldo Circus in Houston

Uzbekistan’s World Cup has moved north, from the thin air of Mexico City to the sealed dome of Houston's NRG Stadium, where Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo and a crowd of number seven shirts await. On paper, the move should help. The roof at Houston’s NRG Stadium will remain closed throughout the tournament, with air conditioning protecting the temporary grass pitch as much as the players. Outside, the Texas midday heat will feel closer to Tashkent, only with the Gulf humidity added in. Uzbekistan have already learned that the World Cup offers little time for romance. Their 3-1 defeat to Colombia was more respectable than the scoreline suggested, but mistakes that might have escaped punishment in qualifying games against North Korea were seized on gleefully by the Colombian forwards. "It was a very good experience for our players," said head coach Fabio Cannavaro afterward. "When you make mistakes and pay like you did today, it’s something they will remember." His team began the game extremely cautiously but improved after the break. There was even the joy of Abbosbek Fayzullaev’s equalizer, a moment that has gone down in history as Uzbekistan’s first World Cup goal. Such joy was brief. Within minutes, Luis Díaz had restored Colombia’s lead, and despite a late surge in Uzbek pressure, Colombia added a third in stoppage time. “When a small team like ours has worked as we worked today, to lose 3-1 is too much,” Cannavaro said. He admitted his players had been nervous, too reluctant to step out of their own half. Against Portugal, he wants more personality and bravery. Uzbekistan cannot spend another 90 minutes waiting for the storm to pass. Portugal arrive with their own problem. They were among the pre-tournament favorites and had the ball almost all night against the Democratic Republic of Congo but did very little with it. According to Opta, Roberto Martinez’s side completed 783 passes, had 75 percent possession, and still drew 1-1. Much of the scrutiny has fallen on 41-year-old Ronaldo. He remains the most famous footballer on earth and perhaps the most famous person alive if Instagram is the measure. More than 666 million people follow him there. Houston had already seen the effect during Portugal’s first game. The stands were filled with Portugal shirts, the number seven emblazoned on the back. FIFA had also cleared the way for him to play. After his red card against Ireland in qualifying, he was given a three-match ban for violent conduct but FIFA suspended two matches of it, leaving him free for the World Cup after he missed Portugal’s final qualifier against Armenia. Those fans saw little of the old Ronaldo, however. The aging legend was conspicuous only by his ineffectiveness and Portugal's attacks lacked a focal point. He even took chances from better positioned teammates. Thierry Henry was blunt after the Congo game, accusing Ronaldo of putting his own desire for glory ahead of that of the team. “The team needs to score. You don’t need to score,” Henry...

FIFA World Cup

World Cup: Diaz’s quality shows as Colombia beat Uzbekistan 3-1

In the breathless air of Mexico City, Colombia overcame a spirited Uzbekistan 3-1 in the first-ever FIFA World Cup game involving a Central Asian side. In a match which was otherwise low on quality, the difference-maker was Bayern Munich’s Luis Díaz. He created Colombia’s first goal, scored the second after Uzbekistan had briefly equalized, and gave the favorites a cutting-edge that they had otherwise lacked. For Uzbekistan, the defeat was not a humiliation. Abbosbek Fayzullaev’s second-half equalizer, the first World Cup goal scored by a Central Asian country, will go down in history. There was even a spell late when Colombia were made to sweat, camped in their own half against a side that many saw as easy pickings. In the end, Jaminton Campaz's third in the eighth minute of stoppage time gave the result a gloss that perhaps flattered the South Americans, who were not at their best. Worlds Apart It is hard to think of two more contrasting countries than Uzbekistan and Colombia. One is arid and double-landlocked, the other tropical, with coasts on the Pacific and the Caribbean. One is a staunch tea culture, the other one of the world’s great coffee exporters. Colombia is in the middle of a febrile election campaign, with a runoff vote due on June 21 that pits the far-left and the far-right. Uzbekistan, by contrast, has never had an election where the winner has received less than 80%. Fortunately, they both quickly found common ground on the pitch by playing some insipid, uninspiring football. Uzbeks are rightly famed for their hospitality, and there was no shortage of accommodation for the Colombian forwards as Uzbekistan welcomed the opposition into their half, sacrificing possession to maintain a solid defensive shape. Sitting back and inviting pressure was always a risk. Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, 2,200 meters above sea level and the scene of the World Cup finals of 1970 and 1986, was full of canary yellow Colombia shirts whose raucous cacophony grew as their side dominated possession of the ball. Toward the end of the first half, the spaces began to widen. Diaz hit the post, and soon after he fashioned the breakthrough, floating a delightful ball over the top for the onrushing Daniel Muñoz, the Crystal Palace right back who, until that point, had had little to do. His improvised finish sent the hordes of Colombians into delirium. Uzbekistan did well to keep the game tight until the break, after which they played higher and with more aggression. On the hour mark came the moment that those watching across Uzbekistan will have been dreaming of. Eldor Shomurodov, who had spent much of the game isolated up front, sent a crashing volley that forced the Colombian goalkeeper Camilo Vargas into a hurried save. The ball spilled loose, leaving Fayzullaev with the simplest of tasks to nod home from point-blank range. Uzbekistan had their first World Cup goal. For five glorious minutes, it looked like another vindication for FIFA’s expanded tournament. The 48-team format has...

FIFA World Cup

The World Cup Begins, and Central Asia Is Finally Part of It

Tonight, at midnight local time, the FIFA World Cup will get underway while Central Asia sleeps. For the first time, however, the region will be part of the story. When Uzbekistan walk out at the Estadio Azteca on June 17, they will be representing a region that has waited more than three decades to see one of its own at football’s greatest tournament. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has produced Olympic champions, world-class boxers, judokas, wrestlers, weightlifters, cyclists, tennis stars and chess players. It has staged major events, built new arenas and invested heavily in elite sport. But football, the world’s global game, has long been something the region watched rather than participated in. Uzbekistan are the first Central Asian country ever to reach the FIFA World Cup. Their qualification, sealed last year with a tense 0-0 draw against the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, was the culmination of years of investment in youth football, academies, domestic infrastructure and a generation of players no longer burdened by the near-misses that defined earlier campaigns. [caption id="attachment_50322" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Uzbekistan's players celebrate qualifying for the World Cup. Image: TCA[/caption] The country had come close before, most painfully in qualifying campaigns for 2006 and 2014. FIFA’s decision to expand the tournament to 48 teams, derided by many as money-grabbing, has also played its part in expanding opportunity to countries that were formerly locked out. Uzbekistan’s breakthrough also comes at a moment when football across Central Asia is becoming harder to dismiss. Kairat Almaty’s Champions League campaign ended in defeat to Arsenal in London, but the Kazakh club’s presence at that level was itself a marker of change, and the chance to play against Real Madrid's Galácticos was savoured by many. Kazakh sides have also started to attract more recognizable names, including former Manchester United winger Nani and former Chelsea forward Victor Moses. These are still early signs, but they suggest that the region’s football ecosystem is becoming more ambitious, more professional and more visible. The face of Uzbekistan’s own shift is Abdukodir Khusanov. The Manchester City defender endured a difficult start in England, recovering from a gaffe-strewn debut to become an assured presence in one of the most scrutinized teams in world football. For some City fans, his arrival had initially looked like a gamble. “Uzbekistan isn’t exactly known for being a production line of talent,” Manchester City fan Ant Clayton said, recalling his skepticism when the club signed him. After Khusanov’s debut, Clayton thought the signing "looked like a big mistake". But by the end of the season, Khusanov had become a rock at the heart of City’s defense, helping the club to an English cup double and giving Uzbekistan something it had never previously possessed: a genuine world-class star playing at the summit of the European game. “Many of Europe’s best forwards have played against Khusanov in the last 12 months,” Clayton said. “In my opinion, not one of them has got the better of him.”...

Football

Central Asian Football Stays Active as Uzbekistan Prepares for World Cup

Uzbekistan’s football team takes to the global stage on June 17 in Mexico City, when it faces Colombia in its first round-robin match of the World Cup. Other countries in Central Asia that didn’t qualify for the event aren’t just cheering from afar; they’re training and competing in hopes of one day achieving the same goal. On Tuesday, Tajikistan held India to a 1-1 draw after a late penalty score by Sheriddin Boboev in a friendly match at the Hisor Central Stadium in Tajikistan. The draw followed a 3-1 win for Tajikistan over India in Tursunzoda four days earlier. “While India bravely defended wave after wave of Tajik attacks, they conceded the equalizer in a rather unwanted manner — via a penalty resulting from a handball,” the All India Football Federation said. The stadium filled up with more than 9,000 spectators, some waving Tajikistan’s national flag. The Football Federation of Tajikistan thanked fans for their support and congratulated team captain Akhtam Nazarov on his 100th match for the national team. Tajikistan’s coach, Igor Angelovski of Macedonia, said the two games against India showed “there were many positive aspects to these matches, but they also revealed certain weaknesses that we need to work on.” The team aims to be “fully prepared” for the Asian Cup finals in Saudi Arabia in early 2027, said Angelovski, who recently replaced Serbian coach Goran Stevanovic. Also on Tuesday, Kazakhstan’s national team lost 1-3 to Hungary after taking the early lead when Sergey Malyy scored off Maksim Samorodov's corner kick. Hungary equalized and then surged ahead in the second half, benefiting from a red card for Samorodov. The Kazakhstan forward was sent off, leaving his team a player down in the friendly, which was held in the Hungarian city of Debrecen. In an alarming episode, play was briefly delayed during the match when a television camera suspended on wires crashed onto the field and workers cleared away the debris. The equipment fell close to a cameraman on the ground, but there were no injuries. Uzbekistan’s performance in the World Cup will be cheered on by many people in Central Asia. They feel a sense of solidarity with the White Wolves, who also face Portugal and the Democratic Republic of Congo in group K. Those regional fans include Ruslan Mingazov, a midfielder for the Turkmenistan national team. “Uzbekistan are our brothers, neighbors, and we are happy for them,” Mingazov said in an interview with the Turkmenportal outlet. He said he also hopes Czechia does well because he played there for a long time and knows many of the players on the national team. Brazil, Portugal, and France are the favorites, while Morocco, Egypt, Norway, and Japan are among teams that could deliver surprises at the tournament, according to Mingazov. The World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with an expanded 48-team roster. It opens on Thursday when host Mexico takes on South Africa in Mexico City.

Cultural Heritage

Samarkand’s Sher-Dor Madrasah Restoration Reaches First Milestone With U.S. Support

A major international effort to preserve one of Central Asia’s most iconic architectural monuments has reached a new milestone, with officials in Samarkand marking the completion of the first phase of restoration work on the façade of the Sher-Dor Madrasah, part of the historic Registan Square complex. According to a June 3 report from the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF), the ceremony was attended by Sarah Rogers, the United States under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, ACDF Chairperson Gayane Umerova, and U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick. The restoration project focuses on the conservation of the Sher-Dor Madrasah’s historic façade, including its mosaics, majolica decorations, ornamental elements, and Kufic inscriptions. The work forms part of a three-phase program supported by the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP). During the event, ACDF and the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan also signed a five-year roadmap for cooperation aimed at expanding joint initiatives in cultural heritage preservation and cultural exchange. The project is one of the largest cultural heritage grants awarded to Uzbekistan by the U.S. government. According to the U.S. Embassy, the Cultural Heritage Agency of Uzbekistan secured a $500,000 AFCP grant after its proposal was selected through a global competition. The award was both the largest in that year’s competition and the largest AFCP grant ever received by Uzbekistan. The initiative is being implemented by the Cultural Heritage Agency with technical support from the International Institute for Central Asian Studies. Local craftsmen and restoration specialists are carrying out the work, while international experts are providing consultation and access to scientific documentation and conservation resources. During the ceremony in Samarkand, Henick and Umerova exchanged a letter of intent reaffirming their commitment to advancing the action plan and expanding bilateral cooperation in the field. Umerova, who is also head of the Department of Creative Economy and Tourism of the Administration of the President of Uzbekistan, said the project is about more than preserving a historic building. “We are grateful to the United States Embassy and the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation for their partnership and shared commitment to safeguarding cultural heritage. Together, we are preserving not only one of the world’s most remarkable architectural ensembles, but also the traditions and craftsmanship that give it meaning,” Umerova said. She noted that the Registan has served as a symbol of learning and cultural exchange for centuries and described the restoration project as an example of international cooperation built on mutual respect and a shared responsibility to protect cultural heritage. “We are thrilled to be part of the restoration efforts of the beautiful and iconic Sher-Dor Madrasah in the historic Registan Square,” Henick said. “These efforts will help preserve this important monument for many generations to come and for all humanity.” The Sher-Dor restoration forms part of a 2023 cultural property agreement between Uzbekistan and the U.S. The agreement created a framework for cooperation on protecting cultural heritage, including measures to combat the illicit trade in archaeological and ethnological material...

Venice Biennale

The Aural Sea: Uzbekistan’s Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale

No other edition of the Venice Biennale has seen Central Asia so well represented. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan all have their own national pavilions, and there are also two exhibitions featuring Central Asian artists at the Palazzo Franchetti – “Instruments of the Mind” by the Uzbek conceptual artist Vyacheslav Akhunov, and the show “TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East”. All three national pavilions have nailed the theme for the 61st Biennale: “In Minor Keys”. Conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh, this edition of the Biennale aims to showcase subjects that might not be the major issues of our times. Each pavilion has done so by connecting specific problems concerning the region to wider cultural or ecological concerns. You can read the Times of Central Asia's coverage of the Kazakh pavilion here. The Uzbekistan Pavilion, housed in the Quarta Tesa of the Arsenale, tackles ecological crisis in a way that is deeply personal to the country, but can speak to everyone. The pavilion conveys beauty and hope while not shying away from destruction. The Aural Sea It’s all there the pavilion’s title. "The Aural Sea" is a play on the Aral Sea, one of the great ecological tragedies of our times. You are being asked, before you even enter, to prepare for an alchemy of sorts. The Aral Sea – or rather, the place where the Aral Sea used to be – sits predominantly in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, in Uzbekistan’s northwest. In the 1960s, Soviet irrigation projects redirected the rivers that fed it, and over the following decades, the world's fourth largest inland lake shrank to a fraction of its former size, leaving behind a salt desert scattered with the rusting hulls of fishing boats. [caption id="attachment_32633" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] Stranded boats on the former shoreline of the Aral Sea; image: TCA, Joe Luc Barnes[/caption] It is one of the most complete environmental catastrophes of the twentieth century, but the Uzbekistan Pavilion decides to speak about the crisis in an imaginative and almost abstract language. Bringing together perspectives from Central Asia – as well as from even further east – the curators position myths and fiction as alternative systems of knowledge, capable of carrying emotional and ecological memory. The curatorial framework was developed by the inaugural cohort of the Bukhara Biennial Curatorial School, constituted by Kamila Mukhitdinova, Sophie Mayuko Arni, Nico Sun, Thái Hà and Aziza Izamova. The collective was assembled through Uzbekistan’s Art and Cultural Development Foundation, convened by curator Diana Campbell (who already curated the much-acclaimed Bukhara Biennale) in partnership with the Delfina Foundation. The exhibition takes its cue from Allayar Darmenov, a young Karakalpak author who began writing about the Aral Sea in 2015, and has created new mythologies around it for contemporary times. [caption id="attachment_50040" align="aligncenter" width="2500"] Installation view, The Aural Sea, Uzbekistan National Pavilion, 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2026. Photo by Gerda Studio. Courtesy of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation. [/caption] The Artworks Coming into the...