SIXTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP!

The national futsal team of Azerbaijan received green light to join the final stage of the European Championship. Thanks to the earlier victory in Moldova, the team led by the Brazilian head coach Jose Alesio won this right for the sixth time. Our team is leading in the third group with 12 points. It secured at least second place, which means the national team may take part in the decisive round of the championship. Other qualified teams are those of Croatia, Italy, Russia and Spain.

Despite the pandemic

The last game between the national teams of Azerbaijan and Moldova took place in the qualifying stage of the World Championship. In October 2019, the Azerbaijani team won with a score of 5:1. The current match of the qualifying tournament of the European Championship, which was based on different regulations, was also significant due to the proximity of the teams in the standings.

Given the coronavirus pandemic, the national team has faced a series of difficulties with training, and finally was forced to interrupt the process at all. The Cabinet of Ministers allowed the national team to train in an enclosed space to prepare for the European Championship only after an appeal from AFFA. At the same time, victories in the games with the national team of Moldova in Chisinau and in Baku could significantly improve the position of our team in terms of reaching the final stage.

The first game of this year with the national team of Moldova for the European Championship-2022 took place on March 4 in Baku, where the Azerbaijani futsal players secured a landslide victory. The first goal was scored in the seventh minute by Fineo de Araujo of the national team of Azerbaijan. Another goal was scored after an excellent pass from Hadi Ahmadi, when Rizvan Farzaliyev went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and scored the second goal of the match. A minute later, the combination of Fineo-Bolinha-Hadi brough the 3^rd goal to our asset. Head coach Alesio started the second half of the match with the same four. The complacency ended when the guests pulled a goal back. The name of Sergei Tacota appeared on the scoreboard. A minute later, player Thiago Bolinha, restored the score difference. And literally a second before the end of the game, he scored a double and set the final score of the match - 5:1. Thus, our team won its third victory in a row, and the Moldovans suffered their first defeat.

The next game of the qualifying stage of the European Championship took place between the national teams of Azerbaijan and Moldova in Chisinau. In this fourth game in the group, the Azerbaijani team defeated the home team with a score of 5:3. Hadi Ahmedi (7 min.), Ramiz Chovdarov (28 min) and Vassura (23 and 37 mins.) scored the goals for the team. Julian Cojocaru, who scored an auto-goal, was named the "hero" of the game for the Moldovan team.

Luck and legionnaires

Participation of Azerbaijan’s national futsal team in the final stage of the European Championship for the sixth time can be considered one of the significant achievements in sports. It is also a significant event if we remember how difficult it was for the team to train during the pandemic. On the other hand, the backbone of the national team is made up of naturalized legionnaires, with the main contribution to the team's achievements coming from the Brazilian players. Despite these achievements, the Azerbaijan Futsal Federation (AFF) failed to train local players in recent years. This led to the dependence of the national team on legionnaires.

The factor of luck after the victory over the Moldavian team was also noted by the head coach of the Azerbaijani futsal team Jose Alesio: “We didn’t play well. Becausewe were not able to fully tune in to the match. The game was quite difficult. We made a lot of mistakes. We could even lose the game for this reason. We got lucky in certain episodes. Naturally, the game will be analyzed and the reasons of our poor performance will be identified. The result is good. At least we have the required three points.”

The next game will be against the Slovak national team. “Of course, we will play to win. Moldova will get qualified if it wins the remaining games,” Mr. Alesio said.

In his interview to AFF’s website about the match against Moldova, the national team player Ramiz Chovdarov admitted that there was a certain complacency: “Five days before that, we defeated this team in Baku (5:1). Apparently, the advantage in that match led to some self-confidence. We opened the score, scored three unanswered goals against the opponents. We thought it would be easy. However, in the following minutes they paid back. It's good that we managed to maintain the advantage. Our goalkeeper Rovshan Huseynli was the best. If the head coach thinks that we played poorly, I think it is because of the score. In addition, the national team players playing for foreign teams had little time to train together. It is impossible to master tactical tasks during such a short period.”

Due to the pandemic, the national futsal championship has also been cancelled. In the absence of games, the members of the team try to keep in shape through training at the base stadium.

With 12 points earned during the qualifying round after the victory over Moldova, the Azerbaijani national team will join the final stage of the European Championship in the Netherlands in 2022 for the sixth time in its history.