Turkmenistan national team and “Ahal” captain Elman Tagayev said his club is determined to compete in the final AFC Champions League 2 group stage match against Jordan's “Al-Hussein”, despite losing its chance to reach the playoffs.

"Everyone knows this game doesn't decide anything anymore. We'll go there to fight, of course. We're not going there to lose or just sit back," Tagaev said at a press conference after the national team's match against Chinese Taipei.

The match against “Al-Hussein” will take place on December 23 in Jordan. “Ahal” is bottom of the group with one point, while the Jordanian club leads with six points and has already secured a spot in the tournament's playoffs. The Turkmen team missed out on advancing to the next round.

Tagayev reminded “Ahal's” matchup with Iranian “Sepahan” as an example of the team's worthy performance. "Everyone saw it against “Sepahan”. So I think everything will be worthy. We'll fight. God willing, we'll win," the captain emphasized.

“Ahal” put up a tough fight against one of Iran's strongest teams, losing the first match to “Sepahan” 0-1 and drawing 2-2 in the second. Both matches took place in Isfahan. One of the matches was originally scheduled to take place in Arkadag, but the Asian Football Confederation decided to move the game to Iran.

“Ahal's” standing in the tournament was significantly complicated by the AFC's decision to exclude Indian side “Mohun Bagan” from the tournament. The confederation annulled the Turkmen club's 1-0 victory over the Indian champions in the first round (in Kolkata). The Indian team was disqualified for failing to appear for an away match against “Sepahan”.

In their first head-to-head match, “Ahal” lost 4-1 to “Al-Hussein” on their home field. Captain Elman Tagayev scored the Turkmen team's only goal, and he'll be looking to gain revenge against the Jordanians in December.