Oriented on making people closer

The Turkmenistan national football team has successfully commenced its campaign in the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which will be held in Saudi Arabia. In their opening group stage match, our footballers secured a 2-1 away victory against the Chinese Taipei team.

The match, played in Kaohsiung City (Taiwan Island), concluded with a win for the Turkmen side, courtesy of goals from Elman Tagayev and Yazgylych Gurbanov. Tagayev, a midfielder for the club "Ahal" opened the scoring with a fine strike in the 48th minute. The opponents managed to equalize through Kwame Ange Samuel in the 63rd minute, but Gurbanov, representing the national champions "Arkadag", secured the victory for our team in the 83rd minute.

The match statistics speak for themselves: the Turkmenistan national team maintained 60% possession and confidently dictated the tempo of the encounter.

Turkmenistan competes in Group D alongside the teams of Chinese Taipei, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The first round also saw a match between Thailand and Sri Lanka, where the Thais achieved a narrow 1-0 victory. Following the initial round, the Turkmen national team leads the group standings.

Five more matches remain. The next fixture will be a home game against Thailand on June 10th. The group stage will conclude in November when Turkmenistan hosts Chinese Taipei in Ashgabat.

A total of 24 teams are participating in the qualifying tournament, divided into six groups. Only the winners of each group will directly advance to the final stage, where 18 previously qualified teams await them.

The reigning champions of the AFC Asian Cup are the Qatar national team, having won the trophy in 2019 and 2023. The Turkmen team aims to compete for a place in the final round, and this bright start in the group stage instills optimism among the fans.

We will continue to follow the progress of our national team and hope that this victorious beginning will serve as a foundation for a successful performance in the tournament.

ORIENT news

Photo: turkmenmetbugat.gov.tm