"KARABAKH" YET AGAIN

Last week four Azeri teams took part in the European Cup football tournament, three of which did not justify the hopes in them. The fans got very upset when Baku's Neftci lost in Albania and Xazar-Lankaran and Inter lost at home. The defeat suffered by the southerners on their home ground was especially upsetting, even humiliating.

Fiasco in Lankaran

No-one believed that in the second qualifying round of the Europa League Xazar Lankaran would go through with Maccabi from Haifa, especially as the first match between these two teams ended with the Israeli club scoring 2:0. But everyone expected a decent match with Xazar Lankaran playing on its home ground. The team just needed to manifest its fighting spirit. But the managers of John Toshack, who is head of the club from Azerbaijan's south pronounced it an "field day". After the team had let three balls go in the first 13 minutes, people became aware that a "tragedy" was in the offing. The Maccabi players did what they liked on the field. Toni Doblas took shots at the goal from a variety of positions and distances. And there was no-one in the hosts' team who could make a worthy comeback. The Maccabi football players dealt with the Lankaran players as if they were in training, demonstrating that for them these opponents were just like an amateur team. Eight goals were scored against Lankaran in 90 minutes. It is interesting that there were only four Azeri players in the team which is called the "Chelsea of the Caucasus". The Legionaires played even more poorly than local players. If Toni Doblas can let six balls through in 45 minutes, why keep him in the team? Why are Rodomir Todorov, Adrian Skarlatake, Zohair Benouahi, Adrian Pit, Marin Orsulic and Nildo Junior all picking up big pay packets? These football players frayed the nerves of the team's loyal fans, demonstrating that they didn't know how to play football at all.

Although the main trainer John Toshack resigned after the game, the management expressed the desire to continue working with him. The utter defeat on their home ground after they had lost in the away game with a 0:2 score exposed an unhealthy atmosphere in the club, which took the form of spineless action on the field, quite inappropriate for professional footballers. Because of this the Brazilian full-back Eder Bonfim, the Spanish goal-keeper Toni Doblas, the Croatian half-back Marin Orsulic and the Romanian Adrian Pit were excluded from the main team.

It is interesting that throughout the history of Azeri teams' games in the European cup, there have been crushing losses, but up until now not a single team has lost on their home ground and with such an insulting score of  eight nil. The last "outstanding" defeat occurred 16 years ago. Neftci (they lost to Vidzevu 0:2 at home and 0:8 away) and Karabakh (against "Copenhagen", 0:4 and 0:6 respectively).

Neftci lost, Boyukaga Haciyev resigned

A few days ago Albania had something to celebrate. The little town of Korca with its 80,000 residents celebrated a win over Neftci within the qualifying round of the League championships. In 210 minutes (two games and 30 minutes extra time) the "black and whites" didn't manage to score a single goal against Skenderbeu.. The Baku fans were watching the pitch in an extremely confident manner, looking down on the rival team. The Neftci management which had repeatedly been praised for its technique and attacking skills on the field lacked assurance. The obvious tiredness of the footballers was clearly visible; the leading football team had already lost the battle in the second stage of the champions' league. The main reason why they lost was because the chief trainer chose to use the wrong tactics and the footballers did not take a serious attitude to the game. Preferring the 4-5-1 tactical scheme at the away game, Boyukaga Haciyev should have paid more attention to his plan of attack, all the more so since the game in Baku ended in a draw. He could have used two forwards with a team like that on the opposing team's ground. But Boyukaga Haciyev didn't do that. As a result, the only forward Platye didn't even get the ball. Therefore in his striving to get the ball he often moved towards the centre of the pitch, although he should have had half-backs backing him up. There were hardly any direct passes in the 90 minutes, so goal shots were taken from all over the place. The Legionaires played very poorly, way below their abilities.

The Neftci fiasco resulted in the resignation of the chief trainer. By mutual agreement the trainer stated that his contract had been terminated. The club's president considered it expedient for the auxiliary trainer to continue training the team.

Inter's useless win

Inter could not get its own back on Tromso on the latter's home ground, although the "bankers" did try to regain the two lost matches in Norway. Kakhaber Tskhadadze  only carried out the task by half. The goal gained by the son of the chief trainer Bachan resulted in a win for the Baku players with the lowest score. To be honest, the outcome of the contest in the qualifying round of the Europa League between these teams had in principle already been decided when Inter lost it's away game with a score of 2:0. An advantage like this is by no means sufficient in a two-game contest, plus the fact that Inter line of attack greatly reduced the chances of the Azeri team. The far from ideal form displayed by Vaqif Cavadov, the poor performance of 35-year-old Aleksandr Iashvili caused everyone to feel tense who was expecting goals from Inter. After this, Azerbaijan's representative departed the Europa League, having only won rating scores.

Once again Karabakh and the Poles

What a blessing that we have the Karabakh club and Qurban Qurbanov. The club from Agdam remains the only team that has made the fans happy. In Poland  "Karabakh" managed to qualify for the third stage in the Europa League.

After beating the Polish club Piast Gliwice in Baku, in the return match Karabakh was fighting fit right to the end and made all Azeri football fans happy.

Although Qurban Qurbanov's trainees were the first to score a goal at the return match, the Poles had scored the two goals they needed by half time. Moreover, in the second half Piast Gliwice did have a few breaks when it could have scored a goal. To add to this, fans of the Polish club resorted to chanting and shouting, unfurling the flag of the separatist and unrecognised "Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh" above the stadium.

Since the outcome of the two matches was registered as a draw, extra time was allocated and here Qurban Qurbanov's last replacement came onto the pitch. After a splendid dribble across the pitch Ulrich Kapolongo shot the ball into the Polish team's goal. This made the local Pjast fans take down from the platform the flag of the separatists who are occupying Nagorno-Karabakh. The match in Poland ended in a 2:2 score, and Karabakh went on to the next stage. The team will play against the Gefle IF club from Sweden next time.