Head coach of the Turkmenistan U-20 national youth team Dovletmurad Annayev spoke about the team's preparation and assessed the chances of his team in the group with Japan, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar ahead of the start of the 2025 Asian Cup qualifying tournament.

According to the coach, the team has conducted serious preparation, including participation in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) championship in Kyrgyzstan and a series of friendly matches in Spain and Tashkent.

"The first stage of preparation was participation from July 5 to 12 in the CAFA tournament in Jalal-Abad, where we looked at candidates and gained experience in games with strong opponents," Annayev noted.

The next stage was a training camp in the Spanish city of Murcia from September 4 to 15. There, the team played three friendly matches: with Wales (2:2), the Faroe Islands (1:3) and the Real Murcia football club (0:1). From September 20 to 23, Turkmen footballers held three more friendly matches with the clubs FC Bunyodkor, AGMK U20 and AGMK Football Academy in Tashkent, finishing them with the following results: one win, one draw and one defeat.

Speaking about the upcoming tournament, Dovletmurad admitted that the group was not easy. "The Japanese are the favorites in all the tournaments they participate in. Kyrgyzstan is the host, and Myanmar is a dark horse," he described the opponents. Despite this, the coach and the team are optimistic and are preparing for difficult but interesting matches.

The head coach especially emphasized the importance of this youth team for the future of Turkmen football: "We have discussed more than once with the leadership of the football federation that this young team is our football future, and it is already very important to develop these talented guys in every possible way."

The coach also expressed gratitude to the Football Federation of Turkmenistan and the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of the country for their support and creation of conditions for the team's preparation in such a short time.

It is worth noting that in parallel with the preparation for the qualifying tournament, the coaching staff of the Turkmenistan U-20 team found time to attend the matches of the Futsal World Championship held in Tashkent.

"The work schedule in Tashkent was very busy, and we had games every other day, so the players were not taken to futsal. Instead, we went with the coaching staff. We got great pleasure from high-quality futsal. Such a chance does not come often. I am very glad that everything turned out this way," the coach noted.

Today, September 25, the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek will host the matches of the first round of the qualifying round of the 2025 Asian Cup among youth teams under 20 years old in Group "I".

The youth team of Turkmenistan will play with the Japanese team. The meeting will begin at 14:00 Ashgabat time.