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RECORD PLACE

The Azerbaijani national football team rises by 19 positions in FIFA's October rating

Author:

23.10.2013

The national football team of Azerbaijan has completed the qualifying stage for the World Cup 2014 to be held in Brazil. The qualifying games that began unsuccessfully resulted in a record-breaking achievement for the national team. For the first time in the history of World and European Cup qualifiers, Azerbaijan gained 9 points. Because of this, as well as the results of the latest games, the team rose by 19 positions in FIFA's October rankings, settling for 88th place.

The goals of Rufat Dadasov and Mazir Sukurov against Northern Ireland brought a victory with a score of 2-0. In the match of principle with the leader of the qualifying group - Russia, Vaqif Cavadov's goal ensured a draw, so the Azerbaijani team gained the ninth point and finished the round in the record fourth place in the group.

In the current round, the Azerbaijani national team could have easily achieved even better results. The draw in two games against Luxembourg, which is considered a fairly weak opponent that has to be beaten, the bogus penalty against the Azerbaijani team in the last minutes of the away match against Russia, which led to defeat, the draw in the away match with Northern Ireland because of a goal lost at the last minutes of the game - under favourable circumstances, the Azerbaijani national team could have scored more points and even taken third place in the group.

It was also the third cycle of the national team led by German coach Berti Vogts. The contract with this coach expires on 30 December and now it is time to sum up.

In his first cycle (the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup), Vogts, who led the Azerbaijani national team, repeated the record result of the time - the team scored 5 points in the group. In the following qualifying stage for the 2012 European Championship, the team updated the record - 7 points in the tournament. And finally, the team finished the last cycle with 9 points, taking not the last or the last but one place in the group, as it was before, but fourth place among six teams.

In general, this cycle was successful for the Azerbaijani team, except for the two draws with Luxembourg. Azerbaijan lost only three games during this interval and only to recognized leaders - Portugal and Russia.

Another interesting fact - except for the last game with Russia, Azerbaijani footballers lost goals only in the second half of matches, even when they lost the game with Portugal - 3-0.

We must admit that the German coach has been able to change the play of the footballers. If earlier the Azerbaijani team played actively only in the first 30 minutes, the team now struggles for 90 minutes. Due to physical training, players attack until the last minute and even score goals. The reliable defence allowed them to forget the devastating defeats even from globally recognized favourites.

Under other coaches, the Azerbaijani team lost the thread of the game after losing the early goal and huddled up near the goal even when they were losing. Vogts broke all these syndromes - the team learned to attack and equalize. The last game against Russia is a vivid example: the Azerbaijani team scored a goal in the final minutes of the match while in the minority.

No matter how much they criticize the German specialist, he was able to establish discipline in the national team and showed the players who is in charge by removing offenders from the team.

The record result for the team was actually achieved in the last three games - the team scored 5 points and regained the trust of the fans.

Therefore, the fate of Vogts is still a matter of debate. According to the general secretary of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA), Elxan Mammadov, the decision will be taken at the end of the year: "No one is discussing a new contract with Berti Vogts. In November, the national team will play two friendly matches and then all the games will analyzed. At the end of December, the issue of Vogts will be discussed at a meeting of the Executive Committee of AFFA."

In this context, R+ analyzed the pros and cons of Vogts' work as head coach of the national team of Azerbaijan.

Among the advantages, the result takes first place, of course. The 9 points won by the team require Vogts to continue work. He proved that he can change the team, which rose to a record 88th place in FIFA rankings.

The new coach will ask for time to adapt - after all, Vogts has been leading the team for 6 years, knows the potential of the players and can achieve even better results in the new cycle.

Vogts has also been able to establish a good relationship with the players. Members of the team do not always accept the coach, and in the case of the German specialist, in their interviews with media, players Rasad Sadiqov, Mahir Sukurov, Rauf Aliyev and others expressed their desire to work with Vogts.

Finally, Vogts has established discipline in the national team. Team players follow the rules of conduct. Discipline manifests itself in the small number of goals lost - the team has learned to safely play in the defence.

But Vogts also has negative features.

First of all, it is the problem with building the game, which Vogts has been unable to solve. The German specialist periodically makes tactical errors. For example, it was a big mistake to use Maksim Medvedev in the game with Russia as a defensive midfielder. Maksim has never played in that position. Therefore, Medvedev, who tended to the flanks all the time, could not help Rauf Aliyev, who played in the attack.

The terms of the contract with Vogts are also not very favourable. The main problem is that the coach spends little time in Baku, does not watch the games of the Azerbaijani championship and is not interested in the players' training. The team needs a coach like Fabio Capello, who leads the Russian team and follows the local championship. Only in this way can you increase competition among the players. And, of course, in this issue it is also impossible to ignore the sum of the contract. It's no secret that Vogts' services are quite costly for AFFA and recruiting another coach can save money.

The factor of age also plays against Vogts. The German specialist has been leading the Azerbaijani national team for 6 years - more than any other coach. During this period, Vogts achieved a good result. By the end of the year, he will turn 67 and is unlikely to seek a higher result. In this context, it makes sense to replace Vogts with a more ambitious figure.

In the meantime, we have to wait for the outcome of the friendly games in November with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.



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