By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 4 – Uzbekistan’s goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov is on the verge of making history at the AFC Asian Cup, posting a new playing record in the Asian football showpiece.
The Uzbek could become the first player in the history of the competition to appear in five Asian Cup finals tournaments.
Nesterov has played in 13 matches with his country’s national team in four consecutive AFC Asian Cup finals in 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2015 in Australia.
He is one of the 23 players on the Uzbekistan national team list for the UAE 2019 Asian Cup which kicks off on Saturday with UAE playing Bahrain. Uzbekistan was drawn in Group 6 along with Japan, Oman and Turkmenistan.
Nesterov, who has played more than 400 league games for clubs in the Uzbek top tier, currently plays his club football for Lokomotiv Tashkent. He has played 96 games for his country.
Should the 35 year-old keeper feature in Hector Cuper’s starting line-up in their 2019 opener against Oman on January 9, Nesterov will write himself a special place in AFC history.
Contact the writer of this story, Abdelaziz Abuhamar, at moc.l1734806116labto1734806116ofdlr1734806116owedi1734806116sni@o1734806116fni1734806116
