Qualification round of the Asian Football Confederation Cup is finished.Turkmen fans paid special attention to the matches of D Group where two our clubs were competing in six rounds.
These are the champion of the country Altyn Asyr and Ahal, the winner of Turkmenistan Cup.The main match of the final round was held in Dushanbe where Altyn Asyr from Ashgabat met Istiklol from Tajikistan.
Our club was two points behind the competitor in tournament table, which gave the hosts considerable psychological advantage while Turkmen team needed only the victory to be qualified, for which they had to concentrate their will to take over the hosts.
Therefore, the team of the Ministry of Communication of Turkmenistan went to the game with fighting mood.The first half was very successful they scored two goals to Istiklol.
Furkat Tursunov was lucky in the beginning of the game and accurate shot of Zafar Babajanov reached the goal in the last minute of the first half.This success gave hope to Turkmen players, however the second half was very hard.
Istiklol would be satisfied with the draw and having put some efforts, the opponent played back one goal.In the very end of the match, on one of the first added minutes, the opponent had a penalty to our goal and the score became 2:2.
However, the seventh added minute was lucky for our team when Mikhail Titov literally few seconds before the end of the match scored the third goals.Having taken the first place in the group, our club continues the tournament.
Turkmen Ahal was also successful playing away against Kyrgyz Alay.The goals were scored by Murad Annayev from the penalty, Guychmurat Annaguliyev and Begench Akmamedov on the third added minute also from the penalty.
Thus, Altyn Asyr gained 14 points and became the winner of D Group what gives it a good opportunity to continue competing for cherished Cup while Ahal with its 7 points is on the third position in tournament table.
Numerous fans congratulate four-time champion of Turkmenistan on its success and wish confident move forward to the target.The opponent of Altyn Asyr will be defined during the draw, however Turkmen players have to remember that there is no easy teams at this stage of the Cup.