NO BREAKTHROUGH

The qualifying state of the Euro 2016 football championship was not a successful one for Azerbaijan. They could only make fifth place in their group, with six points.

A poor start with Vogts

We started this round with German coach Berti Vogts, who had been in charge for some years. Before the start of the qualifying round Vogts spoke about his aim of reaching the final stages of Euro 2016. But Azerbaijan lost its first match at home to Bulgaria by two goals to one. And a 0-6 defeat away to Croatia forced Vogts to resign.

The AFFA temporarily put assistance chief coach Mahmud Qurbanov in charge but the change didn't instil any new life into the team because they were then beaten 0-1 by Norway. The outcome was that the federation again turned to a foreign coach to lead them.

Hopes on Prosinecki

Although there were mixed feelings about the appointment of Robert Prosinecki as Azerbaijan's chief coach, it has to be admitted that he approached his job in a more responsible manner than Vogts. Prosinecki attended league games more frequently, as well as matches among younger age groups organized by the AFFA. In the winter he supervised club training camps in Turkey. The rewards were not long in coming as Azerbaijan beat Malta 2-0 in his first match in charge. This was followed by a goalless draw away to Norway. And in these matches one could sense changes in the way the team was playing. Unlike under Vogts, Prosinecki's team didn't think about defence for the whole 90 minutes, and Prosinecki called up to his team only those players who had played regularly for their clubs and not just sat on the subs bench. There came another 0-0 draw with Croatia in Baku and then a 2-2 draw away to Malta, Prosinecki thereby taking his unbeaten record to four games. However, in the last two matches we lost 1-3 to Italy in Baku and 0-2 away to Bulgaria, which rather took the shine off the qualifying round.

An anniversary year for Rasad Sadigov

Thirty-three players donned the shirt of the Azerbaijani national team in the qualifying competition. Among these no-one turned out more than Rasad Sadigov, who played his 100th match against Italy in Baku. He played in every match and was never substituted. Goalkeeper Kamran Agayev and [midfielder] Rahid Amirquliyev played just a few games less. Agabala Ramazanov made the fewest appearances. The leading goalscorer in the qualifiers was Dmitriy Nazarov with three goals, followed by 2 by Rahid Amirguliyev and one by Cavid Qurbanov. Azerbaijan's other goal was an own-goal by the Italian, Giorgio Chiellini. One Azerbaijani - Rasad Sadigov against Croatia - scored an own-goal. The only Azerbaijani player to receive a red card was Badavi Huseynov. The fans saw some new faces in the national team in Eddi Israfilov, Elnur Cafarov, Namiq Alasgarov and Dmitriy Nazarov.

Problems remain

The six points we won in the Euro 2016 qualifying tournament cannot be regarded as a success. The round showed that there are still problems with the national team. First, we should point out the meagre choice of players for the national team. For example, Kamran Agayev has been the goalkeeper for several years now. Despite his mistakes, he still keeps his place because there is no-one to replace him.  The problems in attack have become even more serious in the last two months. The injury to Rauf Aliyev and Vaqif Cavadov's lack of consistency have made Prosinecki's job even harder. In the last two matches Ruslan Qurbanov has led the attack but he has not left his mark. So, Azerbaijan has virtually no real forwards.

However, it is not easy to assess how well Prosinecki has done in the matches we have played. He took on the job as coach at a difficult time. On the other hand, in the qualifying round for the 2018 World Cup the opponents will be even stronger, and therefore the chances of success even slimmer. It is difficult to expect success from a team in which there is no competition.

But it should be pointed out that Prosinecki's work ethic is more acceptable than Vogts'. The Croatian coach spends a lot of his time in Baku, watches league matches and has meetings with club coaches. But he can't coach players to a European standard. That is the job of junior football schools and clubs. And if there are no top-class footballers, again all we can hope for is a miracle. 

Over the past two years we have not seen any new names coming to the fore in the national side, and that means the work of the chief coach is made more difficult and we cannot be confident about the future.

AT FIRST HAND 

"I can't speak about the qualifying round in general. I wasn't happy with the last two games against Italy and Bulgaria. We only played up to standard for the first 20 minutes against Italy. We were unable to resolve the problem with injured players because we had no-one to replace them with. Although changes were made to the team, I couldn't find the team I wanted. The next stage will be more difficult and crucial. I don't want to speak to the press about the problems; we need to work and that is up to the coaches".

Robert Prosinecki, chief coach of the Azerbaijani national soccer team