The national football team of Kyrgyzstan today for the first time in history got through to the final stage of the Asian Cup.
In the second last match of the qualifying tournament, the national team met with the Myanmar team. The match was to be held in September 2017 in Bishkek, but it was canceled, and then moved to a neutral field. As a result, it was held in Incheon (Korea).
The national team showed the most confident game within this qualifying round. It got a good chance of winning already in the first five minutes of the match, when Islam Shamshiev and Anton Zemlyanukhin scored a goal each.
In the second half, the Kyrgyzstanis secured their advantage. At the 63rd minute, Zemlyanukhin scored the third goal. In 11 minutes, it was Vitaliy Lyuks, and in 12 — Bekzhan Sagynbaev, who scored two more goals. The final score is 5: 1.
Earlier, within the qualifying tournament, the team of Kyrgyzstan twice defeated the Macao team, lost to India and drew a tie with Myanmar. After five rounds, it has 10 points. It is the second in the standings. The first place is occupied by India (13 points), and Myanmar (five points) is the third. Macau does not have any points.
On March 27, Group A will have the final round: the Kyrgyz Republic will play against India, and Myanmar will meet with Macao.
The Asian Cup has been held since 1956. Up to date, there have been 16 draw games, and the team of Kyrgyzstan did not participate in any of them. It is worth noting that 24 teams will participate in the Asian Cup for the first time. 16 teams participated in the previous games (and before — even less), and it was more difficult to get into the final stage of the tournament.
