The newcomer of the AFC Cup, the Turkmen football club Kopetdag, made history by scoring the first stunning 1-0 victory in the second most important Asian club tournament over the 13-time champions of Kyrgyzstan Dordoi. Such a comment was published to the report of this match on the official website of the Asian Football Confederation.
The game took place at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek, where the only ticket to the playoffs was contested by three teams in Group F.
"Kopetdag" made an unsuccessful debut in the tournament, losing in the first round to the vice-champion of Tajikistan "Khujand" - 1:3.
With the starting whistle of the referee Nivon Robesh from Sri Lanka, the home team launched a flurry of attacks on the opponent, and already in the 6th minute they could open an account. Legionnaire from Ghana Joel Kozho shot through himself from close range, but goalkeeper Dovletyar Berdyev was on the spot. And after another 2 minutes, the guests found themselves in a difficult situation - for a rough tackle against Islam Shamshiev, the referee showed a direct red card to Ikhlas Saparmammedov, and the team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan remained in the minority.
But, to the credit of the Kopetdag players, they did not allow the Kyrgyz club to crack the defense, and at the end of the first half they scored a goal, which turned out to be victorious. On 45 minutes, Dovletmurad Seyitmukhammedov passed the ball to the team captain Batyrklych Berdiyev, who hit the lower left corner of the goal with a long-range shot from outside the penalty area.
“After we received a red card in the game, we changed our tactics a bit,” Kopetdag coach Dmitry Korzh said at the post-match press conference. “I want to say a big thank you to all the guys. They deserved to win! The guys played in the AFC Cup for the first time, and what they did today can be considered a feat.”
However, as it turned out later, this victory was not enough for Kopetdag to advance to the next round of the competition. Having played in the final round in a draw - 0:0 with the Bishkek "Dordoy", the winner of the "F" group with 4 points was the Tajik "Khujand", which for the first time reached the playoffs of the AFC Cup.
The second ticket to the zonal Central Asian final was played in Dushanbe in the meeting between the Turkmen "Altyn Asyr" and the Uzbek "Sogdiana". To reach the playoffs, the eight-time champion of Turkmenistan had to win, and the vice-champion of Uzbekistan was satisfied with a draw.
The match passed with a noticeable advantage of Sogdiana, which, thanks to a double by Jasur Khasanov (20th and 59th minutes) and an accurate shot by Javokhir Kakhramonov (48th), scored three goals against the opponent. Altyn Asyr responded with a goal of prestige to Nurmyrat Rozzyev (65th), who came on as a substitute in the 58th minute. In fairness, it should be noted that from the 41st minute the team of the agency "Turkmenaragatnashik" played in the minority due to the removal of Rahman Myratberdyev for two yellow cards.
Thus, "Sogdiana" with 9 points excelled in group "E" and now in the Central Asian zonal final of the AFC Cup-2022 will play with the Tajik "Khujand".
