A solitary strike by substitute Karaev Ulugbek helped Tajikistan deliver the knock-out punch on Pakistan in an Asian Football Confederation Under-17 championship qualifier in Delhi on Tuesday.
The match failed to raise to any great heights as far as the standard of football was concerned. Just when a goalless draw seemed to be the likely result, Ulugbek cropped up in the six-yard box to tap home a left wing cross from close range, in the 78th minute.
With Pakistan having lost both its matches, the India-Tajikistan game on Thursday will decide who gets a berth in the AFC Under-17 Championship, to be held next year in Singapore.
Tajikistan need a victory while India can go through via a draw by virtue of a superior goal difference after the 9-0 demolition of Pakistan on Sunday.
The teams topping the 15 groups would make it to Singapore along with the host nation.
The Pakistanis made two changes to their starting line-up. Fareed Balaouch and Ehsanullah were drafted in place of Ali Ishtiaq and Atif Hussain.
They made a spirited beginning and marked the Tajik forwards very closely even though they could not create many clear-cut opportunities in front of the rival goal.
But they could have taken the lead within the first 15 minutes against the run of play if Hikmatullah had shown some composure in front of goal when he had only the Tajik custodian Murodov Mirali to beat. That miss proved to be costly in the end.
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