They spoke during a forum at the AFC Asia Cup 2011 Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday which was moderated by AFC Technical Director Jim Selby.

Akramov, a FIFA and AFC Coaching Instructor, explained the development work in the Central Asian nation who finished at fourth place after being beaten 3-2 by Korea Republic.

“The third most favourite sport after boxing and wrestling, football is developing very fast in Uzbekistan,” said Akramov.

“Our main strength is our players’ individual flexibility and economic approach to developing the game which is comparable to how Europeans develop their football.

“However, there are areas to develop such as new talents and defending.”

Abramov agreed with Akramov on the need to improve their defence.

“When a player scored, all the players scored and when one player concede a goal, all of them do so,” he said.

“So, defence is also teamwork, just like attacking. We need to work more on defence and when we are looking for young players, defence is part of what we are looking for.”