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| AFC Challenge Cup |
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| Kodirov content despite draw |
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| Turkmenistan come close in their AFC Challenge Cup 2008 opener against defending champions Tajikistan. |
HYDERABAD – Tajikistan coach Pulod Kodirov was satisfied despite seeing his side open their AFC Challenge Cup title defence with a goalless draw against Turkmenistan at Gachibowli Stadium on Wednesday.
Tajikistan were second best throughout the first half, only coming into the game late on before spurning a number of clear-cut chances as the opening Group A match ended in a stalemate.
However, Kodirov believes a draw was not a setback and expects to see Tajikistan improve in the next fixture with hosts India on Friday.
"The draw is not bad at all," said Kodirov.
"The first match in any tournament is always difficult and we will try to have a better result in the next match.”
Kodirov criticised his team’s first-half display while lamenting the lack of incision upfront late on.
"In the first half we did not have a good performance," he added.
"We had some chances in front of goal in the second period and things were good for us but our players couldn't score.
"Our performance was good in the second half and we should have scored from the close chance that we had but the goalkeeper saved the chance.”
Kodirov believes Tajikistan have plenty to work on and expects India to provide a sterner test in the next fixture.
"We will watch the next match between India and Afghanistan and will make some notes about both teams," he said.
"We respect all of our opponents but the match against the hosts will be very difficult.
“We will give the necessary instructions to our players to succeed."
Turkmenistan coach Rahim Kurbanmamedov rued the missed first-half chances which could have sealed a memorable victory.
"We had a lot of chances to score and we could have sealed the game early on but the players were tense since it was our first match in the tournament,” he said.
"We had a good game in the first half but in the second things didn't go as we desired.
"But the result is not bad for us because we shared a draw and each team got a point.”
Kurbanmamedov lamented the lack of preparation time for his side but insisted they will improve as the tournament goes on.
“Hopefully the performance will improve gradually,” he added.
"The players didn't have enough preparation before the tournament and that made it harder for them to adapt but hopefully it will be better in the next games.”
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