FC Vakhsh striker Akhtam Khamrakulov (right) being congratulated by his teammate after he scored the first goal against Chinese Taipei's Tatung during their AFC President's Cup semi-final on Thursday. Photo by: AFC/Stanley Chou.

KUCHING: Tajikistan's FC Vakhsh beat Tatung of Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the second semifinal of the AFC President's Cup at Sarawak Stadium today and booked their berth in the Sunday final against Dordoi-Dynamo of Kyrgyzstan. Though the scoreline may suggest otherwise, Vakhsh struggled against

the amateurs from Chinese Taipei. They led 1-0 at halftime when Akhtam Khamrakulov scored in the 43rd minute. Vakhsh were sloppy. Their game had been on the decline since their

opening match and it wasn't any better today. Tatung opted for defensive tactics, and that was understandable

considering they were up against a technically superior side. They depended on counter-attacks but this wasn't very effective. Throughout the first half, Taung attacked with only two players - Huang Wei-yi and Chuang Yao-Tsung. But there was little the duo could do as they were almost always outnumbered. "There was some level of indiscipline in midfield. They didn't support the forwards like they were supposed to," said Tatung coach Chang Mu-Tsai. When the second half started, Tatung threw an extra man into attack,

with the other midfielders becoming a little more adventurous. In the 56th minute, Yao-Tsung scored his fifth goal of the tournament to draw Tatung level. "At halftime I told the players to push up quicker and harder.

Unfortunately, after the equaliser they became over-confident...I don't know why.” "The last 10 minutes of the game showed my players didn't have the

fighting spirit nor the fitness level for a tournament of this nature," added Chang. As the game swung from one end to another, it looked like neither were going to make much headway. However, during a two-minute spell, Vakhsh found the elusive goals. Sohib Savankulov put Vakhsh ahead again in the 81st minute and

Ilhomzion Ortikov put the game beyond doubt for Vakash two minutes later. "We had the chances but we just didn't make use of them. As I've always maintained, we have only 11 good players to depend on and that was bound to affect our performance," said Vakhsh coach Uraz Turaqulov.