Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Fifteen years will have passed by the time the AFC Asian Cup finals are played in the United Arab Emirates and when Turkmenistan made their first and so far only appearance at the continental championship.
But as the halfway stage in the group phase of qualifying for the finals in 2019 approaches, Yazguly Hojageldiyev and his team sit in a strong position to end the country’s absence from the competition and return to the continental stage.
Turkmenistan take on Singapore on Tuesday evening sitting in second place in Group E, a point behind leaders Bahrain and level with Chinese Taipei, with the Singaporeans bringing up the rear.
Just three points separate the four teams in the group, but defender Serdar Annarazov is confident he and his team mates have what it takes to end Turkmenistan’s AFC Asian Cup drought.
"Looking at our present position, we have a good chance of qualifying for the Asian Cup finals,” he said. "We have a good national team. We have good players, with a solid training and development system in our football.”
Turkmenistan have shown a steady improvement throughout qualifying having had a slow start in the preceding round, which also doubled up as an elimination round for the FIFA World Cup.
An own goal by Annarazov earned Guam a shock win in the countries’ meeting in the first round of games, but from there Turkmenistan improved to eventually finish third in their group, behind Iran and Oman, with Guam and India in the positions below.
Indeed, Turkmenistan were the last team to score against Iran in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, with Maken Saparow netting in the 2-1 defeat to Carlos Queiroz’s side.
The Iranians, who have since booked their spot at the FIFA World Cup finals next year, have since gone 12 games without allowing a goal, and Annarazov believes the performances against the leading lights of the game in Asia underline that Turkmenistan should not be underestimated.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/singapore_rejoice_asiancup-qual_fas_jpg.html
