On Friday, the Central Asians will have the opportunity to make amends when they contest their third final – only Saudi Arabia have reached as many – against Japan, whom they also beat in their 2018-winning campaign.

Uzbekistan captain Jasurbek Jaloliddinov, who scored the opening goal in the 2-0 semi-final win against the Japanese in 2022, is looking forward to the rematch as they seek to become the first team to win the title twice.

“Tomorrow, there will be two strong teams playing and I will try my best to help us win,” the 21-year-old said.

“Two years ago we played Japan and it was a good memory for us, but we have respect for them. They have a strong and big team, they also have their own good strategies, that is why tomorrow we will have a very good game.”

Jaloliddinov is expected to be a key figure for Uzbekistan, having scored once and registered two assists in this tournament.

The Neftchi Fergana attacking midfielder, capped once at senior level, has also created 12 chances, the second-most of any player.

With 14 goals tallied, Uzbekistan are one away from breaking the record for most goals scored in a single edition and have already netted the most across all six editions with 56.

At the other end, Timur Kapadze’s charges have kept clean sheets in all five matches and have the opportunity to become the first team to win the competition without conceding once.

And Jaloliddinov believes that a major factor in their dominance has been the head coach’s rotation strategy, which has helped to keep the team fresh and will stand them in good stead again tomorrow.

“I think we have no problem with recovery and we are experienced from 2022 as well,” he said. “In the last few matches, we had more rotations and that is why we now have to spend all our energy tomorrow and why we are ready to play.”