Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Azfar Business League Spring Cup- ABL Cup 2017/18 mini-football is underway in Baku.

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 was organized by ASEP (Azfar Sport Events & Promotion), Trend Life reported.

The semi-final matches and regular games we held on May 20.

Semi-final matches were expected with impatience, marked by intense struggle, tough football, sometimes turning into a rough game and, undoubtedly, the joy of the winners and the bitterness of the defeated teams.

In the semifinal pairs the champion of the Autumn Cup Azersun got along with Polat Yol, and the bronze medalist of the Autumn Cup Universal played with the first time made the way to the playoffs, Azergold.

Azersun - Polat Yol 4-1

The match, as expected, was in a very tense and tough atmosphere. Both teams rushed to the attack, and on 7-8 minutes Azersun scored two goals. At first, Eshgin Tagiyev gave an assist to Eyyub Efendiyev, then he became the author of the goal. Polat Yol did not lose heart and on the 15th minute reduced the difference.

Alexander Mehdiyev distinguished himself in the match.

The desire to break into the final sometimes led to a tough game and to rudeness, and the players did not hesitate to challenge the decisions of the judges.

In the second half, the game became even tougher. A drive down the left 43 minutes into the match gave Polat Yol's free kick, it was a clear counterattack, and the keeper made a pass. Defender Azersun Vasif Ismayilov played roughly against the attacker, who went one on one with the goalkeeper. For a foul of last hope, he received a second yellow card, left the field and left his team in the minority. Having got a numerical advantage, Polat Yol rushed forward to equalize, but missed the rapid counterattack of Azersun and got another goal in his own gates from Eyyub Efendiyev. A moment after the ball was missed, the player Polat Yol Mushvig Ganbarov did not manage his nerves, and played openly rude against the opponent, for which he was punished by a straight red card. In the last seconds, the defender Polat Yol Arslan Guliyev in a simple situation, lost the ball and "gave" his opponent. The Azersun players took to the duel with the goalkeeper. Eyub Efendiyev, who scored another goal, set the final result of the match and brought the number of his goals in the tournament to 27.

Captain of Azersun team Tohid Agapur shared his thoughts on the match and on the upcoming finals:

"Everybody is happy about this victory. The game was hard, we had difficulties. We are unhappy with the decisions of the judges, in two episodes the opponent should have been shown red cards. These wrong decisions were repeated many times. We would like to see the level of refereeing increased. The final will be difficult. Both teams are good and strong. Let the one who deserves wins, " he said.

Universal – Azergold 6-1

Teams actively entered the game and already in the 3rd minute Universal opened the score thanks to the ball of tall and physically strong striker forward Javid Ismayilov. It's strange that this forward was guarded by Jeyhun Murshudli in Azergold, who was much lower than him. Due to the advantage in the second floor, Javid Ismayilov created many dangerous moments at the opponent's goal. In the first half Hatai Bagirov and 18-year-old Asker Gumbatov scored another goal and on the break team came out with a score of 3-0. In the second half, Universal increased his advantage, Javid Ismailov scored twice more, and Hatai Bagirov scored once. Azergold answered only one goal of prestige in the performance of Arif Aliyev. The best player of the match was Javid Ismayilov with three goals and two assists. Thus, Azergold, who took 27th place in the Autumn Cup last year, made a grand leap and made his way to the top four teams of the Spring Cup.

After the match captain Universal Zaur Shirmammadov said:

"It was a difficult and aggressive match. We have a strong team. We hope and will try to win the final. In the semi-final of last year, Azersun beat us a lot. The reason for that defeat was that we went to the game right after the event and it affected our game in the second half of that match. We do not want to repeat the same mistake this year. "

Thus, in the final, Azersun will play with Universal. Recall that last year these teams met in the semifinals of the Autumn Cup and in that match, "Azersun" won with a score of 7-0.

In the match for the 3rd place will come together Polat Yol and Azergold.

Another interesting match took place for places from 5 to 8 .

Təmiz şəhər – Az Logistika 8-5

In the spectacular game the teams showed an open football, accented on the attack. Thanks to the magnificent game of the trio Azer Nebiyeva-Ali Alizade-Sabuhi Hasanova, Təmiz şəhər came forward 3-0. Az Logistics reduced the gap by the efforts of the most active player Togrul Ismayilov and Rafig Zamanov. It is interesting that Togrul Ismayilov's goal was scored after watching the video replay. The ball after his strike hit the crossbar of the gate and sank to the field. Only with the help of video replay it was found that the ball crossed the goal line and the goal was scored. In the second half, Togrul Ismayilov equalized and gave hope to his team. After that, Təmiz şəhər opened a second wind. The team organized a swift attack from the right flank, which was beaten from afar by Sabuhi Hasanov. Then the team made a substitution, on the field came the reserve goalkeeper Arif Zalov and became a field player. Arif Zalov twice joined the attack from the right flank and scored three similar goals in the three minutes with low punches from the far distance. And, finally, it was the turn of the technical Ali Alizadeh. Scoring two goals, he issued a hat-trick. Az Logistika answered all this with two goals. Togrul Ismayilov became the author of the hat-trick, and Rafik Zamanov the author of the double.

KATV1 - Buta Palace 4-8

Buta Palace outperformed the opponent in the game, which was reflected in the result of the match. The game was held on a collision course. Hat-tricks in Buta Palace were marked by Emin Rahimov and Murad Jafarov, and KATV1 footballers Jeyhun Huseynli and Khalig Huseynov scored two goals.

İteca Caspian LLC - Smart Systems Technology 0-3

Despite the defeat, İteca Caspian LLC owned the ball no less than the opponent and created many dangerous scoring chances. However, goalkeeper Smart Systems Technology Ruslan Veliyev played a brilliant match and beat everything that flew into the gates of his team. Islam Ismayilov scored two goals of Smart Systems Technology.

Match for 21-24 places

R.İ.S.K. Company - Təhsil Nazirliyi 4-7

In the match, one or the other team came forward and the first half of the game ended in favor of Təhsil Nazirliyi 3-2. In the second half, R.İ.S.K. Company equalized the numbers on the scoreboard, 3-3. In the next minutes, thanks to the three goals of Azer Nasirov, Təhsil Nazirliyi again came forward. Then the teams exchanged goals and set the final result of the match - 4-7. It is interesting that in all 11 goals, two players from both teams were involved. In R.I.S.K. Company Nizami Namazov scored two goals and gave two scoring passes, Arzuman Huseynov scored two goals and made one scoring pass, and in Təhsil Nazirliyi poker and scoring earned byAzer Nasirov, Akkasim Nasirov, Iskandar Agakishiyev scored three times and once assisted.

Match for 25-28 places

TreMiDa Press - ATL Tech 1-5

In the final match of the day, ATL Tech won with a large score. There was a lack of a leader who could take the game and lead a team in TreMiDa Press. In comparison with the opponent, ATL Tech acted faster and won with a score of 5-1.

Detailed information on the results of the tournament and match statistics can be found on the official website of the Business League: www.abl.az.

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

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

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