The Uzbeks took the lead in the FIFA 2010 World Cup Qualifier at MHSK Stadium through a Timur Kapadze header on the stroke of half-time before Maksim Shatskikh doubled the lead and Server Djeparov’s penalty sealed victory.

The Saudis suffered a major loss when skipper Yasser Al Qahtani was forced off by injury late in the first half but Dos Anjos felt that Uzbekistan fully deserved the victory that sent them to the top of Group Four.

“We lost tonight because Uzbekistan played better than us,” said the Brazilian.

“At the same time, we were not well prepared and we also suffered a big loss when Yasser Al Qahtani had to come off although, fortunately, his injury is not serious.

“I’m not thinking about resignation because this is part of my job and they could sack me on any day.

“It is not a shameful result because every team could lose by a big score and Uzbekistan deserved their win today.”

Uzbekistan coach Rauf Inileyev was delighted to see his tactics pay off as his team avenged their 2-1 loss to the Saudis in last year’s Asian Cup quarter-finals.

“Yesterday I said that I would use three strikers and I did,” Inileyev said.

“Even if you consider Timur Kapadze and Victor Karpenko to be midfielders, we used them tonight as forwards and it worked.

“Maybe some people don’t like the way we played the game but we are satisfied with the result.

“Of course, we tried to play with a similar style as we did in our match against the Saudis at last year’s Asian Cup but it was very difficult tonight.”