The Turkmenistan national football team lost to the Oman team with a score of 1:2 in the final match of the group stage of the CAFA Nations Cup. The match took place in Tashkent.

The score in the match was opened in the 12th minute – the Omanis took the lead after an own goal by the goalkeeper of the Turkmenistan national team Rustem Ahalliyev. In the 51st minute of the match, substitute Velmyrat Ballakov equalized the score, scoring a goal with a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area. In the 93rd minute, the forward of the Oman national team Muhsen al-Ghassani put his team ahead, setting the final score of the match.

"Thank you guys. We gave it our all. I'm more worried about the injured players than about the result," said head coach of the Turkmenistan national team Rovshan Meredov at the post-match press conference.

According to the coach, the result was influenced by many factors. "Our goal in this tournament was to look at the players. Now we need to prepare for the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying matches," Meredov noted.

The coach stressed the importance of participating in such competitions for the development of the national team. "Such tournaments give us a lot of experience. For example, Oman has already managed to participate in several major matches this year. And we are exactly the ones that are lacking," he said.

The national teams of Turkmenistan and Oman played in group A. After losing in the third round, the Turkmen footballers lost their chances of advancing from the group, having previously drawn with Kyrgyzstan (1:1) and lost to Uzbekistan (1:2).

The team of Uzbekistan advanced from the first place in group A, having beaten Kyrgyzstan with a score of 4:0 in the third round. In the final of the tournament, which will take place on September 8, the team of Uzbekistan will meet the team of Iran. The teams of Oman and India will play in the match for third place.

As the head coach of the Turkmenistan national team stated earlier, the CAFA Nations Cup is considered as a stage of preparation for the autumn matches of the 2027 Asian Cup qualification against Sri Lanka (October 9 and November 14) and Chinese Taipei (November 18).