"I told them I am very proud of the match they played," Cannavaro said after the match.

"I told them I really liked what I saw. It was not easy, we were playing in Mexico, but it felt like playing in Colombia with all the Colombian fans here."

Daniel Munoz opened the scoring for Colombia in the first half lead, with the exciting Abbosbek Fayzullaev drawing Uzbekistan level in the 60th minute.

Cannavaro's side had several opportunities to go ahead after that but failure to convert saw them paying a heavy price, with goals from Luis Diaz and Jaminton Campaz sealing the points for Colombia.

Cannavaro, however, drew only positives from the match.

"When a small team like ours works as hard as it did today, it is clear that losing 3-1 is too much," said Cannavaro, who captained Italy to the FIFA World Cup title in 2006.

"We have to improve. I always tell them to stay in the game," Cannavaro said. "It is not easy to play against a team like Colombia or Portugal."

"Today the team understood when we had to suffer, when we had to control the ball, when we had to switch play from one side to the other. I think the second half was very good. But at this level, when you make mistakes, you pay dearly for them."

Uzbekistan play Portugal next on Tuesday.

Photos: AFP