As for the last battle: "Merv" inflicted the first defeat on the champion of the country - "Ahal"
Matches of the 26th round of the Turkmenistan football championship were held on Saturday. If the champion of the country - "Akhal" and the silver medalist - "Altyn Asyr" became known three rounds before the end of the championship, then the fate of the third place has not been decided to this day.
Two clubs are fighting for bronze medals - Merv and Kopetdag. The gap between the teams is one point.
The central match of the tour took place in Mary. "Merv" at the stadium "Sport toplumy" received "Ahal". The Mary club needed to win in order to stay in the top three.
Merv seized the initiative from the first minutes. A series of mistakes in the opponent's defense led to a goal scored already in the 10th minute, which Orazberdy Muradov chalked up.
– We went to the match as if it were the last battle. We were not satisfied even with a draw. Only a victory, only three points, - the goalkeeper of "Merv" Merdan Saparov said later in an interview with ORIENT.
... Five minutes later, Ahal midfielder Resul Khodjaev equalized the score by scoring from a corner.
At the 23rd minute, after breaking the rules in the penalty area of "Ahal", Begench Alamov converted a penalty. However, the champions did not give up. The open football of Mergen Orazov's wards has borne fruit. Another breakthrough to the gates of "Merv" led to a penalty. Didar Durdyev did not miss. The teams went to the break with a 2-2 draw.
– During the break, the head coach set tactical tasks for each of the players. In the second half, we tried to keep the gates locked and prevent the opponents from scoring, - Merdan Saparov, the goalkeeper of Merv, continues.
In the second half, the Mary team showed imperturbable composure and endurance. At the beginning of the second segment, Amangeldy Saparov again brought Merv forward.
– Despite the fact that we are already champions, the mindset is the same - we need to win every game. However, today we were a bit relaxed, in the second half of the meeting we lacked concentration and implementation of key moments, - Ahal midfielder Ilya Tamurkin explains.
The final score is 3:2. "Merv" wins a strong-willed victory over "Ahal" (70 points) and retains the third line in the championship standings (43 points). It is worth noting that this is the first defeat of the team of the main department "Turkmennebitonumleri" in the current draw.
The closest pursuer of "Merv" - "Kopetdag" (42 points) - confidently outplayed the Turkmenbashi "Shagadam" (34 points) with a score of 2:0.
The silver medalist of the championship "Altyn Asyr" (58 points) in the capital derby defeated "Ashgabat" (30 points) - 3:0, and the outsider of the tournament Balkanabat "Nebitchi" (17 points) beat at home another underdog "Energetik" - 1: 0 (15 points).
Artur PETROSYANTS
