The Turkmenistan national team secured its first victory in the ongoing Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Women's Futsal Championship in Dushanbe by defeating Tajikistan team 1-0 in the third round.
The tournament has brought together five women's teams from Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, who will determine the champion through a round-robin system.
The national teams of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan came into their head-to-head match without any wins. In their first match, the Turkmen futsal players drew 1-1 with their opponents from Kyrgyzstan and lost 3-6 to Uzbekistan in the second match. Meanwhile, the Tajik players, who skipped the opening round, lost 0-3 to Kyrgyzstan.
From the very first minutes, the Turkmen futsal players seized the initiative and had multiple chances to open the scoring in the first half. However, each time the ball either hit the Tajik goalkeeper or struck the goalpost. Nevertheless, the persistence of Kamil Mingazov's team paid off before halftime. In the 12th minute, our compatriots earned a corner kick. From the left side, team captain Maria Charyeva delivered a perfect pass to Maya Musatskaya, who is honing her skills in Lithuania's top division with Vilnius' "Žalgiris." Musatskaya scored with an unstoppable shot into the top corner, putting Turkmenistan ahead 1-0.
In the remainder of the game, both teams had numerous opportunities to change the score. In the final seconds of the match, when Tajikistan replaced their goalkeeper with an outfield player, our athletes even managed to shoot at an empty net. However, the ball hit the post, and the score remained unchanged.
The best player of the match was recognized as Maya Musatskaya, who scored the winning goal.
"The game was tense," said Kamil Mingazov, head coach of Turkmenistan's women's futsal team, in a post-match interview. "The girls were nervous because we had to play against the home team supported by their fans. Overall, we played well. I'm happy we won. Of course, we wanted to score more goals during the game. But that is okay, we will keep trying. The main battles are still ahead."
After this victory, Turkmenistan moved up to second place with four points, trailing Iran by two points. In the third round, Iran crushed Kyrgyzstan 10-0.
In the fourth round, leaders will face each other. In another match of that day, Uzbekistan will play against Tajikistan.
The CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship has been held since 2022 and is now in its fourth edition. The tournament was held in Dushanbe in 2022 and 2024 and in Tashkent in 2023. The representatives of Turkmenistan are participating in this championship for only the second time. Last year at the tournament in Dushanbe, our compatriots achieved just one victory over Tajikistan 4-1 and finished fourth overall. The Iranian women's futsal team has won all previous CAFA championships.
