Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan hosted the matches of the first round of the group stage of the Central Asian Football Association Nations Cup - CAFA Nations Cup—2023.

The national team of Turkmenistan also held its first match. The meeting, held in Tashkent, ended in a draw — 1:1.

The Turkmen team scored first, then went on the defensive, but it was not possible to save the result. It is difficult to call the results of the match negative, rather they are comforting.

The composition of the players who went to the Pakhtakor stadium was radically different from the players who were fielded by Mergen Orazov for a friendly match against Malaysia. The head coach demonstrated his intention to try as many young players as possible in the national team.

The absence of Altymurad Annadurdyyev, Ahmed Atayev, Arslanmurad Amanov, Didar Durdiyev and Ilya Tamurkin is not a loss, but rather an attempt for Orazov to test younger but promising players, or an opportunity to give a pause to eminent playmakers before a serious and responsible match against Uzbekistan.

In the first half of the match, the players were looking for an approach to each other's goal. After half an hour of the game, the Turkmen team created a dangerous moment at the opponent's goal. Begmurad Bayov managed to escape from Akhtam Nazarov on the right flank and shoot into the penalty area. Meilis Diniev, who was left without care, struck a touch, but struck above the target.

At the end of the first leg of the meeting, the Turkmen national team continued to press and create dangerous moments at the opponent's goal. Teymur Charyev hung from his half of the field and brought Resul Khodzhayev one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Yatimov played ahead of the curve, and the ball ricocheted into the midfielder and left the field.

At the beginning of the second half, the players of the Tajik team came out to rendezvous with the goalkeeper. Parvizjon Umarbayev got free space in the center of the field and gave a slotting pass to Alisher Jalilov. The striker handled the ball and fired at the goal, but Resul Charyyev was on the spot, not allowing the score to open in the match.

The players of the Turkmenistan national team recovered quickly and less than a minute later Bayov broke through again on the right flank and struck at Yatimov's goal. The goalkeeper reacted, but Murad Annayev was the first to finish off and drove the ball into the opponent's net.

After scoring a goal, the Turkmen team went on the defensive, but Tajikistan felt confident and seized the initiative for itself. The Tajiks did not miss the opportunity to use standard positions, even when throwing the ball from the side, and their opponents began to have problems with positional play in defense, individual shortcomings also affected.

As a result, there were several threatening episodes at once at the gates of Charyev, who again had to save the team.

Four minutes before the end of the regular time of the meeting, the ball still ended up in the net. Nuriddin Khamrokulov accurately struck after drawing a free kick.

The goal scored inspired the players of Tajikistan, who were desperate to win the match. However, the goalkeeper of the Turkmenistan national team had other plans in this regard. Resul Charyev, who was recognized as the best player of the match, parried every shot that flew into his goal.

The Turkmen team acted as the "second number", from defense, unclenching in counterattacks. But this strategy turned out to be quite enough to periodically strike at the opponent's goal.

The match ended with a score of 1:1, and this result can be considered successful for our national team. Yes, the Turkmen national team attacked to a lesser extent, but we still need to focus on the fact that Orazov presented us with a new squad that is starting to be optimized and is likely to find team leaders in the future for several years.

As part of the second round, the Turkmenistan national team will face the Uzbekistan team on June 14, which defeated Oman 3-0 in the first match.

Artur PETROSYANTS