"Arkadag" started the 32nd Turkmenistan Football Championship among clubs of the top league with a big victory over the vice-champion "Altyn Asyr" - 3:0.
Preparing for the new national championship, the players of "Arkadag" held seven friendly matches during their training camps in Antalya (Turkey) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). They won four matches, drew one, and lost two. In their final match in the UAE before arriving in Ashgabat, under the guidance of Vladimir Bayramov, they defeated Dubai club Regional Sports FC with a score of 4:2.
The match against "Altyn Asyr," in which the nominal hosts were the players of "Arkadag," took place at the "Sport Toplumy" stadium in the Buzmeyin etrap of Ashgabat. The reigning champion and holder of the Turkmenistan Cup quickly took the lead. In the 14th minute, a pass from the left flank reached Arslanmyrat Amanov, who sent the ball into the net with his left foot from 12 meters without any handling.
In the 27th minute, Didar Durdyev, the top scorer of last year's championship, scored a goal by putting a bounced ball into the net after Velmyrat Ballakov's shot hit the crossbar.
With a score of 2:0 in favor of "Arkadag," the teams went into halftime.
In the second half, the wards of Yazguly Hojageldiev made a lot of efforts to change the score. And in three episodes were close to it. In the first case, the goalkeeper Resul Charyev saved the reigning champion by parrying a shot from three meters. In the second case, the goalpost saved the "Arkadag" team, and in the third case, R. Charyev once again showed his goalkeeping skills by deflecting a ball flying under the crossbar from a free-kick by Selim Nurmyradov.
The climax of the match came in the 82nd minute when Altymyrat Annadurdyev from a close range successfully redirected Mirza Beknazarov’s shot from the left flank.
By securing a confident victory over the eight-time former champion of Turkmenistan and the finalist of the 2018 AFC Cup, "Arkadag" earned their first 3 points. And "Altyn Asyr" set an anti-record by suffering their second consecutive defeat at the start of the championship.
After two rounds, the team of the agency "Turkmenaragatnashyk" is unusually at the bottom of the tournament table, having no points together with Mary's "Energetik," which also suffered a second defeat, losing at home to "Ashgabat" - 0:3. The scorers for the winners were: Khojanazar Gurbanov (3rd minute penalty), Begmyrat Pirguliev (41st minute), and Shatlyk Gurbanov (86th minute).
The match in Turkmenbashi city, where the local "Shagadam" and "Nebitchi" from Balkanabat met in the Balkan derby, ended unexpectedly. Both teams had different starts to the championship. In the first round, "Shagadam", outsider of last year's championship, sensationally won away against the silver medalist "Altyn Asyr" - 2:1, and "Nebitchi", bronze medalist of the previous season, unexpectedly lost at home to another outsider of the national championship-2023, "Merv" - 0:1.
It seemed that the coastal team would earn points again in front of their fans. But it didn't happen. The hosts responded to two goals from a free-kick in the first half by Dovran Berdyev (42nd and 45+4th minutes) with only one accurate shot from Hydyrgeldi Atjanov (53rd minute), who put the ball into the empty net after a shot from the right flank. "Shagadam" ended the game in the minority after the expulsion of Begmyrat Arbatov in the 96th minute of added time for two yellow cards.
In another match of the 2nd round, "Ahal" won in Bayramaly against Mary's "Merv" - 1:0 and with 6 points topped the tournament table. The winning goal for the guests was scored by Yazgylych Gurbanov from a penalty kick in the 56th minute, and he topped the list of scorers with 3 goals. Two goals are credited to Dovran Berdyev ("Nebitchi").
"Ashgabat" occupies the second position in the tournament table with 4 points. "Arkadag", "Shagadam", "Nebitci" and "Merv" have 3 points each. However, "Arkadag" and "Kopetdag", who have 1 point, have played 1 match less.
