Azfar Business League comes to end [PHOTO]

By Laman Ismayilova

Azfar Business League Spring Cup- ABL Cup 2017/18 mini-football has finally come to an end in Baku.

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

On May 28, the last two matches were played at the stadium of AZFAR Bakcell on the Republic Day - the final and the game for the 3rd place.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, the national anthem of the country was performed before the matches. A real festive atmosphere reigned in the stadium. The games attracted a lot of interest from football fans who warmly supported the teams.

Match for third place

Polat Yol - Azergold 3-2

Azergold actively entered the game and from the first minutes it tried to get into the opponent's goal with long strikes. One of these blows performed by Jeyhun Murshudli hit the goal post. After several unsuccessful attempts by Azergold, Polat Yol made a combination attack in the 7th minute, Nagi Nagiyev got a pass from Farid Yagubov and sent a leather projectile to the opponent's goal. Polat Yol continued to press on the defense of the opponent, but Shirin Kerimov missed two true points and both times he could not break through the goal. At the 18th minute, the player of Polat Yol team Arslan Guliyev received the ball on the left flank, dribbling moved to the center, cleverly struck through the gate and increased the gap, 2-0. Three minutes later, the most active players of Azergold Vusal Nasirov and Yamin Agakerimzade created a combinational attack. Yamin Agakerimzade struck right into the corner from the goalkeeper and reduced the difference, 2-1. Teams went on a break with this account.

In the second half, the first dangerous moment was created by Polat Yol. After the impact of Alexander Mehdiyev the ball hit the bar and flew directly to Shirin Kerimov, but he failed to send the ball into the empty net. Azergold responded with two dangerous blows Vusal Nasirov, but goalkeeper Vusal Yagubov saved his team.

Two minutes before the end of the match, the attack of Polat Yol was fined by Mehman Eminov. Finally, at the last minute when the free-kick was drawn, the ball was sent to Azergold player Vusal Nasirov and he struck the corner near the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper missed the ball and the match ended with a score of 3-2.

After the match, bronze medalist of the tournament, Polat Yol player Farid Yagubov, shared his joyful emotions: "Our main goal was the victory in the Cup, but, unfortunately, despite the fact that in the semi-final with Azersun the rival remained in the minority, we missed the goal and lost. It's our own mistake. We are glad that we took the 3rd place. We will work more on ourselves and try to achieve better results in subsequent tournaments. I congratulate my teammates. "

Final

Azersun - Universal 5-3

The teams that met in the semi-final last year's Autumn Cup. Recall that in the semifinals of the Autumn Cup Azersun beat Universal with a large score of 7-0. Thus, for Universal team the game also had a character of revenge.

As for the game, the teams demonstrated a real battle worthy of the final. From the first minute, Universal began to actively push on the opponent, more command of the ball and the tandem of complementing players - tall and athletic striker Javid Ismayilov and a short but fast 18-year-old winger Askar Humbatov brought a lot of trouble to Azersun. At the 1st minute goalkeeper Azersun Amir Jafarov reflected a dangerous shot of Asker Gumbatov. A minute after the penalty kick, a similar attack by Orhan Alihanov from Azersun was beaten off by Universal goalkeeper Nijat Ibrahimov. On the 4th minute after the violation of the rules, a penalty was awarded in favor of Universal, Khatai Bagirov played the ball and passed to Asker Gumbatov, who pierced him with an accurate blow to the goal net and opened the scoring. After that, Javid Ismailov struck his head sent the ball over the sideline. Azersun created the first serious threat only in the middle of the first half. Eyyub Efendiyev struck at the bottom, but the goalkeeper hit the ball with a foot in the hockey style.

In the response attack, Javid Ismailov technically accepted the ball sent to him by chest and left the defender out of the way in one move, went one on one with the goalkeeper, but struck the gate. At the last minute of the first half the player Azersun Orhan Alihanov powerfully struck from afar, it seemed that the ball pierced the top corner of the goal. Many fans thought that there was a goal, but in fact the ball touched the net of the gate from the outside. The first half ended 1-0 with the advantage of Universal.

In the second half on the 26th minute Khatai Bagirov broke ahead on the right flank and made a pass to Javid Ismayilov, who was in a favorable position at the gate. Javid struck hard on the ball and the ball from the goalkeeper's hands pierced the net. Two minutes later, Azersun finally succeeded in an effective attack. The transfer of Eshgin Taghiyev was closed by Orhan Agayev.

At the 32nd minute of the match, Javad Ismayilov deceived the defenders of the opponent by deceitful movements and again increased the difference in two goals, 3-1.

Azersun was not going to give up and Jeyhun Mirzoev missed two good opportunities for scoring. Finally, in the 43rd minute of the match the best scorer of the tournament Eyyub Efendiyev, said his word. He got the ball on the right flank, with a cold blow struck between two rivals and shortened the difference. Azersun gave all his energy to compare the account. In the next attack Eyyub Efendiyev received an excellent pass from Orhan Agayev and did not get into an empty net. But in the 47th minute of the match he succeeded. Eshgin Taghiyev sent the ball to Eyyub Efendiyev, who was on duty at the goal post and closed the transmission by sending the ball into the empty net while leveling the score - 3-3. Thus, the main game time ended in a draw and the teams had to play two extra halves of five minutes each.

Additional time passed under the advantage of Azersun. At the 53rd minute of the match after the transfer of Eshgin Tagiyev from the goal line Eyyub Efandiyev scored his third goal in the final match and the 30th goal in the tournament. And in the second extra half, Jeyhun Mirzoyev with an accurate shot set the final score of the match. Thus, despite the gap in the course of the match with a score of 1-3, Azersun made a comeback and won a strong-willed victory with a score of 5-3 and after the Autumn Cup also won the Spring tournament.

After the meeting, the champions celebrated the victory together with their fans. Players Azersun also congratulated the players of the opponent with a meaningful game.

In the end, the awards ceremony was held and the teams received awards. The general director of the company ASEP and the founder of the football school AZFAR Andrei Sarychev and the head coach of the football school AZFAR Vladislav Kadyrov presented medals to the three best teams. The Azersun team won two cups - the Spring Cup and automatically received the Super Cup as the winner of the Autumn and Spring Cups. It is worth noting that, according to the rules in case of victory, Universal Super Cup winner would have to be identified in an extra match.

After the game captain Universal Zaur Shirmammadov shared his thoughts: "The rival was very strong. They found one or two gaps and equalized, and then on the same motivation scored goals in extra time. We have not been able to use our capabilities. In general, it was a good game. "

Further, Azersun striker and the best scorer of the tournament Eyyub Efendiyev answered the questions of Trend Life.

Question: Eyyub, you won the Spring Cup. How are your feeling?

Answer: I'm feeling good and we are very happy to be the champions. The opponent was very strong. We lost in the course of the game, but won thanks to the willful qualities and efforts of my teammates. We are very happy and we hope that this tradition will be continued.

Q.: You are already the second tournament in a row becoming the top scorer. What is your secret?

A.: I'm trying to correctly distribute my energy on the field. I seldom go back to my half of the field, basically I play behind the central line in front of half of the opponent. If I spend too much on my half and work out behind, I could not play ahead and score balls. I save my strength for the outstretching of the opponent's players ahead and on goal scoring. My main aim is to play ahead and score as much as possible.

Thus, the most interesting football competition, which lasted about two months, came to an end.

ASEP hopes to please you in the future with new prestigious tournaments and expresses gratitude for your interest and attention to the Spring Cup.

For more information, please contact: 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