Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The second group matches of the Spring Cup of Azfar Business League - ABL Cup 2017/18 mini-football took place on April 14-15.

ABL Cup 2017/18 mini-football is a corporate tournament among Azerbaijani companies. The championship is held in the professional fields of the company Azfargroup. The event is organizer by ASEP (Azfar Sport Events & Promotion), Trend Life reported.

The matches were marked by interesting results.

In E group, Iteca Caspian LLC, which suffered a major defeat in the first match, played with the favorite of the match DDLAR Group and delivered much trouble to the opponent. Iteca Caspian LLC went to the lead with a score of 2-0 and even went on a break with a 3-2 advantage, but in the second half surrendered and lost with a minimum score of 3-4. The team lost the chance of reaching the next stage.

Polat Yol, who won the first game, achieved a similar result in the second match. The team won over TreMiDa Press with a score 10-1. TreMiDa Press managed to score one goal. Shirin Karimov made a hat trick. The final match betweem DDLAR Group and Polat Yol will determine the leader of the group.

In F group, Azersun team beat VTB with a score of 9-1. All goals were scored by three players and the main scorer Eyyub Efendiyev. He scored 6 goals and made a hex-trick.

Thus, Azersun secured a way out to the 1/8 finals. VTB gained a victory in the last round, but further felt the bitterness of a major defeat.

In the second match of the group Muğanbank beat R.İ.S.K. Company with a score of 8-3. R.İ.S.K. Company but could not resist a strong opponent. After these results, the match of Muğanbank-VTB, which will take place in a week, will probably determine the second team of the group.

In G group, Azergold won from Gilan Holding with a score of 6-3. The player of Azergold Yamin Agakerimzade made a hat-trick in the second match.

SilkWay-Optimal match took place under the advantage of the former. Jalal Samedov , made a big contribution to the victory of SilkWay team. The team won with a score 9-3. Despite the defeat and loss of chances of reaching the next round, the debut performance of the Optimal team in the tournament left a pleasant impression.

In H group, two teams played against each other, winning their first matches. In this confrontation, Təmiz Şəhər defeated TİMSPORT and became the sole leader of its group. The match ended with a score 9-4. The player of Təmiz Şəhər team, Vugar Jafarov made a hat trick, Shamil Agametov scored a goal and made six assists. The most interesting match of the day was between two other teams of this group. Port Baku and Təhsil Nazirliyi demonstrated bright football with numerous attacks and goals. In the struggle of two teams, losing their first matches, the debutant of the tournament Təhsil Nazirliyi won with a score 7-5. Murad Iskenderli from Port Baku and Savalan Alizadeh from Təhsil Nazirliyi teams scored three goals. Thus, Təhsil Nazirliyi was the first of the debutants to achieve victory in the spring cup. At the moment, all four teams are running for the 1/8 finals.

On the second day of the game, A. Azecolab team left the strong impression in the match with Bakcell. The team has a strong goalkeeper, technically gifted players, controls the ball throughout the game, players demonstrate their technique with tricks and show attractive football to spectators. Azecolab won with a score 5-2 and qualified for the 1/8 finals. Elvin Alizade and Sanan Zulfugarov were made takes, Samir Bayramov assisted three times. Despite the defeat, Bakcell created several scoring chances at the opponent's goal, but goalkeeper Azecolab Kamran Dadashov saved his team.

KATV1 and Gənclər və İdman Nazirliyi teams, which lost in the first round met to get the treasured points. Until the last seconds on the field was a tense and fascinating struggle. The team of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the 14th minute of the match led with a score of 2-0, then missed 4 goals, a minute later reduced the gap to a minimum, 4-3. In the end of the match, Gənclər və İdman Nazirliyi rushed with all his strength to level the score, KATV1 grabbed the ball, scored a successful counter-attack and set the final score 5-3. Thus, the situation in the group became more complicated. All teams retain the chances of reaching the next round.

Even Gənclər və İdman Nazirliyi, who was defeated in both games may reach the 1/8 finals. To do this, the team must win Azecolab and wait for the result of another match. This is a difficult, but theoretically possible, task.

The second round in Group B was marked by high performance and a parade of goals.

The first to enter the field were Universal and Smart Systems Technology. Universal team won with a score 14-0. Tural Davudov scored 4 goals, and Ayaz Aivazov made a hat-trick.

An interesting game was held between Gate Baku and GESCO.

Gate Baku struck a hail of goals in the opponent's goal and scored 36 unanswered goals! After the 36th goal, the match referee stopped the game, and the team left the field.

22 goals were scored by Ilham Babayev, three poker players were made by Jabrail Ismailov, Rahman Israfilov and Vusal Ahmedov. Team GESCO buried hopes of leaving the group. The other three teams will compete for the first two places in the group.

From the point of view of the strength, Group C can be considered a "death group". This is confirmed by the results of the matches. Spectacular performances and campbacks were recorded in both matches.

In the match ATL Tech-Kapital Bank, ATL Tech came ahead (3-0), but banker Elmir Fataliyev scored three goals saved his team from defeat and set the final score 3-3. The second game between City Taxi and Az Logistika was dramatic. City Taxi led 2-0 at the beginning of the game, after which Az Logistics reduced the difference to a minimum. However, at the same time City Taxi restored the status quo in two balls. After this, Az Logistics began to play more attentively in the defense, made a comeback and scored an important victory with a score 3-4. Following Təhsil Nazirliyi, Az Logistics became the second team to celebrate the victory among the debutants of the tournament.

Finally, the second round ended with two matches in D group . Buta Palace beat Pullman Baku with a score 5-1. Emil Rahimov became another player who made a hat-trick on this tour. The match Embawood-Azərkosmos led to another victory of Embawood team.

Embawood had full advantage over the opponent and won with a score 9-1. Joshgun Suleymanov scored five goals and made a penta-trick. Among the winners, Elvin Guliyev and Vusal Hajiyev also showed beautiful game. The matches of the last round will finally determine the tournament position of the teams in the group. The debutant Azercosmos, defeated in the first two matches, complicated the task of leaving the group.

Thus, according to the results of the second round, five teams got the right to enter the next round. These teams are Azecolab, Polat Yol, DDLAR Group, Azersun and Azergold.

Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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