APL

De Spinghar Bazan surprised many people today as they played last year's RAPL champion, Shaheen Asmayee, closely all game. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, despite De Spiinghar Bazan losing forward Saleem Naeemi in the 79th minute to a red card. Naeemi lost his cool and slapped a Shaheen Asmayee player after the two got into a verbal dispute.
The first goal of the match came courtesy of a penalty kick from Shaheen Asmayee forward, Hashmatullah Barakzai in the 42nd minute. Shaheen Asmayee was awarded the penalty after center Samiullah Muhammadi was tackled inside the box by a De Spinghar Bazan player.
Things looked bleak for De Spinghar Bazan as they went into the half down 1-0 to a Shaheen Asmayee team that was at full strength, following the return of their top players from Korea where they represented Afghanistan in the Asian Games.  
The second half was full of back and forth action with neither team willing to give an inch to the other. It wasn't until the 58th minute of play, when forward Faqir Hussain Himati tied the game up for De Spinghar Bazan and lifted his team's spirits.
This semifinal will come down to the second leg, when these two teams meet again, this Friday September 25, 2014 at 3:30 PM.

To see the best moments from this match, see the video highlights below.