Four cities of the country hosted matches of the 14th round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship among the clubs of the top league.
The most interest in it was caused by the game at the Sport Toplumy stadium in the Büzmeýin etrap of Ashgabat, where the country's vice-champion "Altyn asyr" hosted "Akhal", finalist of the Turkmenistan Cup 2023, a two-time participant of the AFC Champions League.
The first round match between these teams ended with a victory of "Altyn asyr" - 2:0. Since then, changes have taken place on the coaching bench of "Akhal" - the team was led by the head coach 43-year-old Dovletmyrat Annayev, under whose leadership the footballers won three victories and lost to the reigning champion of Turkmenistan "Arkadag".
"Akhal" resolutely focused on the game and opened the score already in the 16th minute thanks to the efforts of Elman Tagayev. Soon after the break, Meilis Diniyev doubled the result in the 47th minute. It seemed that "Akhal" would take revenge. But this did not happen. First, in the 65th minute, Myrat Annayev from the penalty spot reduced the gap to a minimum - 1:2. And 6 minutes before the end of main time, "Akhal" defender Ata Geldiyev shot the ball into his own goal, and the match ended in a draw - 2:2.
After this game, "Akhal" with 25 points remained in second place, and "Altyn asyr" with 22 points - in third. At the same time, the team of the agency "Türkmenaragatnaşyk" has played two matches less.
"Arkadag", which won their 12th consecutive victory, fully took advantage of the loss of two points by their closest pursuers in this round. This time, Vladimir Bayramov's wards crushed "Ashgabat" - 7:1, missing one goal to their record score of 8:1, which was recorded in the meeting of these teams in the first round.
It is noteworthy that at first it was difficult to expect such a rout. In the 4th minute, Begmyrat Pirgulyev, realizing a penalty, brought "Ashgabat" forward - 1:0, and "Arkadag" had to catch up for the first time in the current season. It is necessary to give credit to the leader, which 6 minutes later restored the balance - 1:1 thanks to the goal of Velmyrat Ballakov. In the second added minute of the first half, Begench Akmamedov scored the second goal, and the teams went to halftime with a score of 2:1 in favor of "Arkadag".
The second half was dominated by the home team, who scored five more goals in the opponent's goal thanks to a double by Begmyrat Bayov (52nd and 87th minutes) and a hat-trick by Didar Durdyyev (54th, 56th and 63rd).
After this victory, "Arkadag" strengthened its lead with 36 points, ahead of the second-placed "Akhal" by 11 points, while having one game in hand.
In the other two matches of the 14th round, the hosts were content with a modest 1-0 victory. With the same score, Turkmenbashi's "Shagadam" won against the capital's "Kopetdag" thanks to a penalty converted by Mekan Ashyrov on the 80th minute, and "Merv" in the Mary derby beat "Energetik", which finished the game in minority due to the removal of Shirmyrat Bayramov in the 83rd minute. Before this episode, "Merv" was already winning 1-0 - distinguished in the 77th minute Shazada Byashimov.
After these victories, "Merv" with 21 points retained fourth place in the standings, and "Shagadam" with 18 points - fifth, having played one match less.
The 15th round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship will open with the match "Akhal" - "Nebitchi". And the next day will play: "Energetik" - "Shagadam", "Kopetdag" - "Arkadag" and "Ashgabat" - "Altyn asyr".
