The second victory over the Mary «Merv» was won by the «Altyn Asyr» players in the Central Asian group «E» of the AFC Cup 2023/24, in which the Kyrgyz «Adbysh-Ata» from Kant and the Tajik «Ravshan» are also fighting for the only ticket to the next round of the competition » from Kulyab. The 4th round meeting, held at the central arena of the Ashgabat multifunctional stadium, ended with a score of 1:0. The winning goal for the «Turkmenaragatnashyk» agency team was scored in the 34th minute by Oraz Orazov.
In the previous round, the vice-champion and bronze medalist of the 2022 Turkmenistan Championship already met each other at this stadium. In that game, in which the nominal home team were the «Merv» players, «Altyn Asyr», in stoppage time in the 97th minute, snatched a strong-willed victory - 2:1 and took second place in the group.
Before the second head-to-head match, at a press conference, the team coaches complained about the busy calendar of games, in which both clubs have to compete in three tournaments at once - the Turkmenistan Championship and Cup, as well as the AFC Cup.
«Merv» head coach Vitaliy Alikperov also spoke about the reasons for the defeat in the first game.
«We lacked experience and concentration at the end of the match. We will make adjustments and try to achieve a positive result this time. This is an important game for us. The team is in a fighting mood», V. Alikperov assured journalists.
The head coach of «Altyn Asyr» Yazguly Hojageldiyev also spoke about the importance of the upcoming match.
«For us, this is not just another match, but an international tournament that evokes special emotions in us. We always want to win and for this we must play to the limit of our capabilities», emphasized Y. Hojageldiyev.
The match was held with the advantage of «Altyn Asyr», which created more dangerous moments at the opponent’s goal. In the 34th minute, Oraz Orazov, on the verge of offside, received an excellent pass from team captain Ahmet Atayev and, finding himself eye to eye with the goalkeeper, sent the ball into the net without interference.
In the second half, players from both teams missed several good chances to score goals. «Altyn Asyr» had two excellent opportunities to increase the score: Rahman Myratberdiyev. In the first case, he aimed from the goal line at the bottom right corner, but the «Merv» goalkeeper jumped to the corner. And in the second episode, Rahman fired a shot from outside the penalty area, but the ball flew over the goal.
At «Merv», Myrat Yagshyyev acted dangerously at the forefront of the attack, who was able to hit the goal more than once, but in the final stages of the attacks he was let down by inaccuracy. And the guests had the most realistic chance to equalize the score in the 69th minute, when Toyly Gochnazarov, who had come on as a substitute nine minutes earlier, came on. Thanks to the successful rebound of the ball, he ran from the center of the field alone towards the «Altyn Asyr» goal, but was unable to beat goalkeeper Dovletmuhammet Jalatov.
In the time remaining before the final whistle, the teams were unable to change the score.
Having won a second victory in a row, «Altyn Asyr» scored 7 points and retained second place in the standings in Group «E». The Kyrgyz «Adbysh-Ata» has 3 points more, which in a parallel match on its own field beat the Tajik «Ravshan» - 1:0. «Merv» and «Ravshan» are at the bottom of the standings, with 2 points each.
In the next round, the matches of which will take place on the 30th of the November, «Merv» and «Altyn Asyr» will play «Ravshan» and «Abdysh-Ata» respectively in the central arena of the multifunctional stadium «Ashgabat». The first match involving «Merv» will start at 17:00, and the starting whistle for the second game will sound at 21:00
