APL

Today's match was by far the most exciting game of this season yet. The AFF Stadium was jam-packed half an hour before the game kicked off and thousands of fans waited outside of the stadium to get in but couldn't.

The game lived up to the expectation as both sides began attacking in the opening minutes. A penalty kick was called for Shaheen Asmayee at the 8th minute for a tackle on Hashmatullah Barakzai by Farzad Ataei's. Samiullah Mohammadi comfortably converted the penalty kick into Shaheen's first goal at the 9th minute mark.

Shaheen fans kept chanting and celebrating at the stadium as the game enthused on. Later in the first half Atalan missed two golden chances to score the equalizer goal. First one was missed as Sayed Baqer Mirsalimi passed the ball to Mustafa Afshar but he waited too long to score. Whahid Nadim precisely tossed a chip over Shaheen's goalie Hameedullah Yousufzai but Sayed Mohammad Hashemi  was able to tactfully defend off an almost sure goal.

A well played first half ended as a vengeful Atalan kept attacking relentlessly to make up for the lead goal.

In the second half's opening minutes, Shaheen's Reza Allahyari passed to Jamil Naseeri  and he powerfully fired on the goal only to hit the post.

Shaheen's first substitute came as Emran Walizada replaced Jamil Naseeri on the pitch at 56th minute of the game. Emran created a perfect scoring chance for Shaheen at 61th minute but Atalan's goalie Amanullah Toofan pushed the over the goal's crossbar.

Shaheen's fans electrified the stadium as they watched Allahyari fire on the goal, with Barakzai driving home the shot into the net with a glancing blow.  But to the disappointment of Shaheen players and fans it was called off side at 64th minute.

Atalan pushed their luck in the last minutes too but despite their best efforts couldn't score. After securing today's win, Shaheen advances past Atalan to the semi-finals. Now Atalan's fate will depend on Simorgh Alborz and Toofan Harirod's game.

All of the group stage matches will start at 3:30 pm this season. The matches will broadcast live on TOLO TV, Lemar TV, Arman FM and Arakozai FM.  It will also be watchable on the RAPL YouTube page (www.youtube.com/afghanpremierleague).