Altyn Asyr plays draw in the AFC Cup Inter-Zone Final – 1st Leg
April 25 Sports Club, or 4.25 SC for short, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a sports club that is named after the date on which the Korean People's Army was established. However, these days, one of the best football teams of the North Korea was not in a festive mood. A potentially crucial 2-2 draw against DPR Korea’s 4.25 SC in the first leg of the AFC Cup Inter-Zone final in Pyongyang for Turkmen team’s benefit.
East Asia Zonal champions 4.25 went into the match boasting a 100 percent record, having won all eight of their games on the continent, and ran out 11-1 aggregate winners over Singapore’s Home United in the Inter-Zone semi-finals last month. But the Central Asia Zonal champions Altyn Asyr are also unbeaten in the competition, and disposed of 4.25’s conquerors from last year – India’s JSW Bengaluru – in the previous round after winning the first leg away from home. Before this ninth match, “Altyn Asyr” had six wins and two draws in their AFC Cup games.
In 4.25 SC VS Altyn Asyr match, North Korean football players were considered favorites. However, Altyn Asyr had good chances also.
From the first minutes of the match, the hosts took over the initiative. O Yun-son’s side appeared to have started where they left off when captain An Il-bom gave them the lead on the 15-minute mark in what was the tournament’s leading scorer’s 12th goal of the campaign. Altyn Asyr showed their resilience as Vahit Orazsahedov levelled proceedings in the 20th minute to add to the brace he scored in Bengaluru, before the visitors were handed another boost as An Song-il was dismissed for a second bookable offence on the half hour. The Pyongyang side responded superbly to the double setback, though, as the 2017 AFC Cup’s top scorer Kim Yu-song put 4.25 back in the lead just two minutes later to mean the hosts went into the interval a goal to the good. But the Turkmen team were not done yet and with nine minutes to play Selim Nurmyradov equalised to end 4.25’s 100 percent record on the continent.
In doing so, Altyn Asyr’s undefeated run was stretched to nine games as the tie was left tantalisingly poised ahead of the return match in Ashgabat Stadium of the capital on October 3. The match starts at 5p.m.
Resultative 2:2 draw stopped record series of 4.25 SC and the chances of our team in home match for qualification to the final of the Asian Football Confederation Cup have increased owing to two scored goals in away match.
The winners of the Inter-Zone final (let us hope that Altyn Asyr will the lucky one) will play either defending champions Air Force Club of Iraq or Jordan’s Al Jazeera in the AFC Cup final at the end of October.
