The footballers of the Ashgabat «Altyn Asyr» took second place after the third round in the Central Asian group «E» of the AFC Cup 2023/24, in which the Kyrgyz «Adbysh-Ata» from Kant and the Tajik «Ravshan» from the Kulyab are also fighting for the only ticket to the next round of the competition and the Turkmen «Merv» from Mary.

It is noteworthy that this is the second time that two Turkmen teams are competing in the same group for the second most important club trophy in Asia. Five years ago, this already happened in the history of the AFC Cup, when two clubs from Turkmenistan – «Altyn Asyr» and «Ahal» – ended up in the same group «D». And it is very significant that one of them, «Altyn Asyr», managed to reach the final of the tournament!

In the current AFC Cup, «Altyn Asyr» acts as the country's vice-champion. But the current bronze medalist of the 2022 Turkmenistan Championship «Merv» made it into the group round of the tournament, defeating the current three-time winner of the Super Cup and vice-champion of the Kyrgyz Republic «Alai» from the city of Osh in the qualifying games at home - 1:0 and taking away the bronze medal winner of the Tajikistan Championship 2022 «Khujand» – 2:1.

Both Turkmen clubs started differently in the group stage. In the first round, «Merv» took away points away from «Ravshan», drawing 0:0, and «Altyn Asyr» lost in Kyrgyzstan to «Adbysh-Ata» - 0:3.

In the next round, the Turkmen teams, as if by agreement, ended their home matches with their opponents in a draw - 1:1. «Merv», leading 1:0, missed the victory in the meeting with «Abdysh-Ata». And «Altyn Asyr», losing 0:1, escaped defeat in the game with «Ravshan».

Before the third round, in which the Turkmen clubs met each other, «Merv», which was in second place with 2 points, was 2 points behind the leader «Abdysh-Ata», and «Altyn Asyr» was at the bottom of the standings with 1 point.

The first half did not bring success to either team. In the 60^th minute, on the left flank of the attack, «Merv» was awarded a free kick. It seemed that Kemal Annamuhammedov wanted to cross the ball into the penalty area, but instead he hit the far upper corner of the goal, opening the scoring.

6 minutes before the end of regular time, «Merv» defender Shazada Bashimov tried to clear the ball from his penalty area with his head, but did it unsuccessfully. The result was a pass to Rahman Myratberdiyev, who from 13 meters with a powerful shot under the crossbar restored the balance in the score - 1:1. And when the 7^th minute of stoppage time began, Selim Nurmyradov scored the second goal from 22 meters with a jewel-like precision free-kick into the «nine» to his left, bringing «Altyn Asyr» a strong-willed victory – 2:1.

In another match of the 3^rd round, the Kyrgyz «Abdysh-Ata», thanks to the only goal in the 51^st minute by Emmanuel Jagr, won away against the Tajik «Ravshan» - 1:0 and strengthened its leadership in Group «E» with 7 points. «Alyn Asyr» has 3 points less. «Merv» and «Ravshan» have 2 points each.

The matches of the 4^th round will take place on November 9. On this day, «Abdysh-Ata» will host «Ravshan» in Bishkek at the Dolen Omurzakov stadium, and «Altyn Asyr» and «Merv» will hold a second head-to-head match at the «Ashgabat» stadium, in which this time the nominal home team will be the agency’s team players «Turkmenaragatnashyk».