The Hazfi Cup holders, who reached the AFC Champions League final last year, went down 2-0 to Kuruvchi as second half goals by Ulugbek Bakaev and Timur Kapadze gave the Uzbek side their first win in the competition following a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Al Ittihad in Jeddah last week.

The result left the Iranian outfit at the bottom of their section with no points from two games and with their hopes of reaching the knockout phase this year hanging by a thread.

"Kuruvchi played with the same style that they used in Jeddah, putting ten men in defence and playing on the counter attack," said Vieira, who led Iraq to the Asian Cup title last July.

"Both Al Ittihad Aleppo and Kuruvchi played a similar defensive game against us but I need to pay tribute to their goalkeeper (Murod Zukhurov) who saved Kuruvchi several times today.

"We made some mistakes and we lost the match.

"We have now lost two matches and we are at the bottom of the table but we still have four matches to play and we could still reach 12 points, so thetournament is not over for us."

Kuruvchi coach Mirdjalol Kasimov dedicated the win to the Kuruvchi fans as a gift for the Navruz (Uzbek New Year) holiday and singled out Zukhorov for praise.

"I’m pleased with the performance of our reserve goalkeeper Zukhurov who made his debut at the international level because of an injury to our first choice keeper," Pavel Bugalo, said the Uzbek football legend.

"We also lost defender Alexey Nikolaev due to injury and had to bring young Sakhob Juraev into the match but he looked a little bit nervous during the game and I had to replace him.

"It was tough match in which both teams made mistakes but I’m happy with result.

"Sepahan were the better side in the first half but after the break we put more pressure on our opponents and got the goals."

Kuruvchi skipper Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov felt that victory would be important in building the confidence of the Uzbek side.

"After the draw was made, we felt a bit afraid of our opponents because all of them are strong teams," said the Uzbekistan international defender.

"But during our first match in Jeddah we felt that we could beat any team in our group.

"Today, we came on to the field with full confidence and we won."