APL

In the last decisive Roshan Afghan Premier League (RAPL) 2016 group stage game, De Abasin Sape encountered Toofan Harirod, western zone representatives, at the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) stadium. The clash ended 2-0 in favor of Toofan. 

Toofan Harirod took an impressive victory over Shaheen Asmayee, one of the strongest teams in RAPL; however, their thunderbolt was caught out by De Maiwand Atalan later in the second game. To overcome the challenge of advancing to the next level, Toofan should have made a 3-0 triumph over De Abasin Sape in today’s competition.  

Toofan turned the game on its head inside 15 minutes when Anwar Akbari scored the first goal. Subsequently, the team surged forward back to back to crack the opponent’s net. The other assaults in the first-half got scoreless, putting the team at 1-0 lead. 

The tempo was slow after the restart in the second-half by Toofan but the game burst back into attacking approach to make the second and third goals. The main objective was to net at least three goals to deny group stage elimination. 

On 52 minutes, Mohammad Rafi Barekzai netted the second goal, leaving no gap for Abasin to recover. The rest of the game was followed by relentless attacks by Toofan and brilliant defense of its opponent. Finally, the result etched 2-0 in favor of Toofan. 

Taking the goal difference of Toofan and De Maiwand Atalan into consideration, Toofan will no longer play in RAPL 2016 semi-finals. However, De Maiwand Atalan will be granted a spot. 

With this loss, De Abasin Sape is put at the eighth place of fifth season. 

The match is available on the RAPL YouTube page (www.youtube.com/afghanpremierleague). More information about RAPL 2016 events can be found on (www.afghanpremierleague.com).