Simorgh Alborz qualified for the final
Simorgh Alborz dominated the match against its strong adversary Maiwand Atalan in the first semi-final of the Roshan Afghan Premier League on Thursday.
Alborz was the first to score in the 26th minute when Munirulhaq Nadim took advantage of a second of distraction among Atalan’s mid-fielders, carrying the ball without any attack from the opponent all the way to the Atalan box. Before the defense could stop him, Nadim took a strong shot and put the ball into the net for 1:0.
Atalan responded with a stronger offensive, but failed to level the score before half-time. Up until the break, around 3,000 spectators watched a game which mostly took place in the middle of the ground.
Seven minutes into the second half Alborz’s Nadim scored again, taking their lead to 2:0 with fans on both sides cheering all the more louder for their teams as the pressure mounted.
Alborz’s Abbas Abbasy went down in the 67th minute after a colliding with Zaidan from Atalan and was carried off the field by the medics with a leg injury.
With not much time left for Maiwand Atalan to win the match, either Alborz relaxed or Atalan stepped up its offensive, opening up an opportunity for the team from the south to finally score.
In the 75th minute, Atalan’s Abdul Wahid Noorzai took the ball to the net, bringing the score to 2:1 and giving the team the boost it needed to hope for a win.
But the hope was in vain.
Although Alborz did not score again, it defended its lead until the last minute and successfully qualifying for the grand final.
The winner of tomorrow’s semi-final match between De Spinghar Bazan and the undefeated Toofan Harirod will face Alborz in the grand final on October 19 in Kabul.