There was celebration in the streets of the Bahraini City of Riffa last night, when Bahrain drew with Uzbekistan in their late night play-off second-leg World Cup qualifier, to ensure the tiny Gulf kingdom Nation yet another play-off, against the CONCACAF Zone fourth-placed team, either Trinidad & Tobago or Guatemala, for a place in the finals to be held in Germany next Summer.

The second leg of the play-off in the of the Asian Zone World Cup qualifiers, played at the National stadium in Riffa, ended in a 0-0 draw, bringing Bahrain a step closer to realising their World Cup dream.

Bizarrely, and very unfairly for Uzbekistan, the Uzbek’s actually won the first leg of the play-offs 1-0 on September the 6th, but FIFA ordered a replay of the match, ruling that Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida made a "technical error'' when he disallowed a penalty scored by Uzbekistan's midfielder Server Djeparov, because a team-mate had apparently encroached into the penalty area.

The referee, instead of ordering the Uzbek’s penalty be re-taken, incorrectly awarded a free kick to Bahrain, and in so denying the Uzbek’s a likely second goal.

In the controversial first-leg rematch, Bahrain were lucky to draw against Uzbekistan in the game in Tashkent, which eventually ended 1-1.

The match last night however, had some good chances from Bahrain, though the home team could not take advantage of some easy chances to score. Bahrain dominated throughout the match, that was watched by more than 12,000 jubilant fans.

Despite the draw, Bahrain advanced on away goals because of the goal scored in the first-leg against Uzbekistan, which ended 1-1.

Team lineups:

Uzbekistan:
Evgeniy Safonov; Andrey Fedorov, Asror Alikulov, Mirdjalal Kasymov, Server Djeparov, Vladimir Radkevich, Viktor Karpenko, Marat Bikmoev, Timur Kapadze, Alexei Nikolaev, Anvarjon Soliev, Alexander Geynrikh, Maxim Shatskikh, Zafar Kholmurodov.

Bahrain:
Ali Hasan Ali Husain; Sayed Adnan, Abdulla Marzooq, Mohammed Hubail, Mohammed Juma Abdulla, Salman Ghuloom Ali, Talal Yusuf, Husain Ali Ahmed, Ala'a Hubail, Mohammed Salmeen, Sayed Mahmood Jalal Rashed Abdulrahman Saif, Hussain Ali Hasan, Saleh Ahmed Ferhan.

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