Uzbekistan v Canada: Floro eyes key stop off for road to Russia

Canada coach Benito Floro wants his players to show they are ready for the rigours of 2018 World Cup qualifiers when they take on Uzbekistan in Bad Waltersdorf.

Tuesday's match concludes a 10-day trip to Austria and comes four days on from Friday's 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan.

Floro's men will have to tackle a similarly quick turnaround when the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers resume in September, travelling to Honduras before hosting El Salvador.

The former clash is already at the forefront of the former Real Madrid boss' mind.

"This will be an opportunity to demonstrate, after four days in between the matches, that we can increase our level of pressing, to add to our attack, and to understand what we can do to win the game in Honduras," Floro told his federation's official website.

"We consider that in Honduras the game will be a strong game, but on the pitch, not around the pitch.

"That means it will be a real fight, physical and tactical. With this camp, we are focused on developing very good pressing.

"The [Uzbekistan] game will be very important to test that, from Friday, that which was positive continues to be positive; that which was wrong can be rectified, and we can continue growing."

The games with Honduras and El Salvador wrap up the semi-final round with six teams qualifying from three groups of four to the concluding CONCACAF hexagonal.

Uzbekistan have also progressed to the final 12 contestants in the AFC qualifying section and return to competitive action at home to Syria on August 31 before travelling to face 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar.

The meeting at Thermenstadion marks the maiden international game between Canada and Uzbekistan.

Dimitrij Nazarov converted a second-half penalty to help Azerbaijan to a 1-1 draw with Canada in Friday's international friendly after Tesho Akindele opened the scoring for the North Americans.

 

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1