Euro-2012: Die is cast

  Or, Berti Vogts meets Germany again

Sanan Safizada
Baku


The football elites of more than 50 countries assembled at the Palace of Culture and Science in Poland in February. The qualifying draw for the European Championship in 2012 was held in the grand, 235-metre-high building, built in Warsaw half a century ago. Fifty-one countries -- with the exception of Ukraine and Poland, which qualify for the tournament finals as host nations -- took part. After the gala opening ceremony of the draw, to the music of Chopin, famous Polish and Ukrainian footballers were introduced: Oleg Blokhin and Andrey Shevchenko from Ukraine and Zbigniew Bonek and Andrzej Szarmach from Poland. They were given the honour of drawing the containers with the names of the countries. The containers were divided into six baskets according to the teams' ratings after the latest European Championship and qualifying games for the World Cup. During the draw, according to procedure, the teams were distributed into 9 groups. Six groups have six teams each, and three groups have 5 teams each.
During the draw, the famous international player Shevchenko picked the container with a piece of paper reading "Azerbaijan," and then almost added the Armenian team to the same group. But the UEFA executive committee had earlier decided to put countries which have political tensions, Russia and Georgia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan, into different groups. This decision was unprecedented: until now, both FIFA and UEFA have insisted that games have to be played in spite of political differences. Michel Platini noted: We do not want political problems and rule them out from the outset. In the preceding qualifying rounds, when I was not UEFA president, Armenia and Azerbaijan said that they simply did not want to play each other. Imagine what would happen if history repeated itself."
The qualifying rounds for Euro-2012 will start on 3 September 2010 and end on 15 November 2011. The teams which come first in each group and the team with the most points of those which come second in their groups, will qualify for the finals. In addition, the eight remaining teams who come second in their groups will play each other in play-off games, and four of them will also qualify for the final tournament.
It has to be said that Azerbaijani fans know quite well the teams in Group A, in which Azerbaijan will play. So our players will have to play new games against old acquaintances.
"I am very pleased with the result of the draw. We will earn quite a lot of money from the game with the Germans and invest it in building new stadiums and into youth football. We are very happy to play Germany again. We can learn a lot, and we can play football against them. We must make progress, and we are already are on the right track," said Berti Vogts, head coach of the Azerbaijani national team.
Be that as it may, the die is cast, as the saying goes. The qualifying games kick off in September, and we have time to prepare. We have to analyze the minutest details in order to be able to achieve major goals, not to win just 5 points as before. Although the prospects of qualifying for the final tournament of the European Championship look somewhat remote, the Azerbaijani team simply must beat the Kazakhstani team in both games. And we must at least display our strengths in the Austria and Belgium games. Who knows, perhaps this time Berti Vogts will actually surprise even his compatriots? For now, we offer our readers a brief review of the history of games between the Azerbaijani team and the teams in the same group.
Euro-2012 Qualifying Round
Group A. Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan
Group B. Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra
Group C. Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands
Group D. France, Romania, Bosnia, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg
Group E. Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldavia, San-Marino
Group F. Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta
Group G. England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro
Group H. Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland
Group I. Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein


Azerbaijan-Germany
The Mannschaft is the favourite in the group. With three European championships and three World Cups under its belt, the German team is rightly considered the strongest at continental level. Joachim Loew's men have once again reasserted their class by making it to the finals of the latest European championship. It is worth noting that the Azerbaijani team's head coach, Berti Vogts, is also German. But on the pitch, the German team gives no quarter, even to "its own men." This is probably why the Azerbaijani team suffered bitter defeats in both games against the Mannschaft in the preceding qualifiers.
Official games:
2010 World Championship qualifiers
12 Aug 2009 Azerbaijan-Germany 0-2 (Schweinsteiger, Klose)
9 September 2009 Germany-Azerbaijan 4-0 (Podolski, Klose (2), Ballack)
First-hand quote: "It cannot be said that I am shocked by the draw, but nor can I be pleased with it. Thinking logically, the long journeys to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will probably not be easy. We have a group in which half the teams have German head coaches, which is why the Kazakhstani and Azerbaijani teams cannot be underestimated. Naturally, however, the Turkish team and ours will be favourites." Joachim Loew, German national team head coach.

Azerbaijan-Turkey
The national team of Azerbaijan's fraternal country made it to the semi-finals of the last European championship. After winning bronze medals in the World Cup, the Turkish team missed two major tournaments in a row and a World Cup. In 2002, the Azerbaijani team played two losing games with Turkey in World Cup qualifiers. Two friendly matches were also played. And a game between the youth teams in 2007 ended in a draw, 1-1 (the scorer of a penalty for the Azerbaijani team was Rasad Sadiqov). In a friendly in Kayseri in 2008, Turkey won 2-0.
Official games:
11 October 2000 Azerbaijan-Turkey 0-1 (Hakan Sukur)
2 June 2001 Turkey-Azerbaijan 3-0 (Tayfun, Hakan Sukur, O. Derelioglu)

Azerbaijan-Austria
As one of the organizers of the last European Championship, the Austrian team cannot boast major achievements, although most of the players play in the continent’s leading national championships. In 2004, the Azerbaijani team, under head coach Carlos Alberto Torres, played the Austrian team and lost. The Austrian team which, in the last qualifiers decided to rely mainly on younger players, will fight for third place in the group. The Austrians are also likely to be a major headache for the Turkish team
Official games
2006 World Championship qualifiers
8 September 2004 Austria-Azerbaijan 2-0 (Stranzl, Kohlmann)
7 September 2005 Azerbaijan-Austria 0-0

First-hand quote
"We face two top-class teams, Turkey and Germany. Ours is an interesting group, and we have to perform very well to make progress. At the same time, we cannot count on points from the games with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. We must not forget that other teams also play good football." Dietmar Constantini, head coach of the Austrian national team

Azerbaijan-Belgium
This permanent fixture in European and World championships has been going through a period of stagnation in recent years. The Dutch specialist, Dick Advocaat, was brought in as head coach to improve the team. The main players are well-known footballers like Van Buyten, Vermaelen and Fellaini. The Azerbaijani team has played the Belgian team twice in official games.
Official games:
2008 European Championship qualifiers
11 October 2006 Belgium-Azerbaijan 3-0 (Simons, Van Den Berg, Dembele)
21 November 2009 Azerbaijan-Belgium 0-1 (Pieroni)
First-hand quote:
"We have found ourselves in a difficult but interesting group, and I will be upset if we do not qualify. We have nothing to lose in the games with Germany - I will consider every good result a success. Incidentally, these qualifiers are not going to be an easy ride for the Germans either. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are investing a lot of money in football and progress. Let us see how things work out." Dick Advocaat, head coach of the Belgian team.

Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan
In recent years, the Azerbaijani players have often played against Kazakhstani footballers, at both club and national levels. In the past, under head coach Carlos Alberto Torres, the Azerbaijani team beat the Kazakhstanis 3-2 in a friendly game. And the Kazakhstani champions, Aktobe, beat Azerbaijani teams Xazar-Lankaran, Inter and Baku in the CIS Cup tournament. As for official games, the Azerbaijani team played the Kazakhstani national team twice when Sahin Diniyev was head coach. Although many people predicted back then that Azerbaijan would easily take 6 points from the games with Kazakhstan, our players earned only 2 points.
Official games:
2008 European championship qualifiers
6 September 2006 Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan 1-1 (Ladaqa - Byakov)
6 June 2007 Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan 1-1 (Baltyyev-Nadirov)
"The group is very difficult. The German and Turkish teams are undisputed favourites, but other teams are also very strong. Our young team has a great chance of proving itself against great teams like Germany and Turkey. As a German specialist, I will be very interested in competing with my compatriots Berti Vogts (Azerbaijan) and Joachim Loew (Germany). And of course, I will be very pleased to play the German team." Bernd Storck, head coach of the Kazakhstani national team.