ON THE HANOVER SCORE

Azerbaijan's national football team still cannot taste the joy of victory in 2010 World Cup qualifiers. With an interval of four days, the team held two different matches - against Finland and Germany, but the outcome was the same. Both matches ended in defeat for Berti Vogts' team. As a result, the team dropped to the lowest place, making way for Liechtenstein who tied with Finland.

1:6 in two matches

In the recent period, failures have become a visit card for our national team which looks bleak in the current qualifiers. The team was very close to beating Finland, but its catastrophic bad luck (or inability) to take goal-scoring chances did not allow them to do so. "If you don't score, you lose" - this famous football axiom works against the team in almost every match, and sometimes the rival scores one accidental goal after another. Specifically, the defence of the national team does everything possible to "facilitate" the task of their opponents, so scoring a goal against our team is, unfortunately, not a big problem. This was proven by the recent matches, including against Finland in Lankaran, where the host team managed to score their first goal in the current elimination cycle. Its author was Elvin Mammadov who got off to a good start in the season as a member of FC Karabakh, scoring two goals against Finland's Honka in the Europa League. However, they failed to keep up the score, and the northerners scored largely illogical goals, proving once again that the most important thing in football is the score on the scoreboard. After the match, it indicated 1:2, which was quite suitable for the guests.

 The away match in Hanover - in the "den" of the three-time world champion from Germany - was far more difficult. The coach of our team, Vogts, said with bravado that his players are going only for victory. Clearly, the intention is commendable, but it is clear that such a feat is beyond the realms of possibility. If they are unable to cope with Liechtenstein in Baku, is it realistic to tie with Germany in an away match? And the match gave the answer - an answer that was already known to many. The Bundesteam taught our team a free lesson in football where all kinds of goals were scored.

Actually, the outcome of the game was decided in the first quarter of the half-time after a penalty kick by Michael Ballack. Later the guests' defence only helped their rivals "churn out" goals. The new captain of the team, Samir Abbasov, who was expelled from the pitch in the second half, made his own contribution to this. Once again, it became clear that in the absence of injured Rasad Sadixov, our defence looked like a yard with a through passage and "served a number". The only solace was the performance of the goalkeeper Kamran Agayev in whom FC Cologne is very interested. The goalkeeper did well and is not to blame for the goals that were scored, so Kamran can be easily called the best player of the match. For our team, the final score 0:4 is not the worst scenario. Besides that, it is always difficult to resist the teams that win solely with their class. The Bundesteam played to their heart's content, and their leader was Miroslaw Klose who scored twice. The guests managed to launch quite good attacks on their rivals, especially in the first half, and our players were close to getting away from a goalless defeat, had it not been for the German goalkeeper Rene Adler. He got into the main team as the first goalkeeper Roberto Enke came down with the flu, and rescued the hosts in several episodes when Aleksandr Chertoganov and Mahir Sukurov shot at the goal. At the same time, Germany were backed by substitutes - Klose and Andreas Beck greatly fitted into the game, and the latter has a goal-scoring pass in his account. Incidentally, for Miroslaw the second goal was his 47th in the national team, and he has already caught up with Rudi Voeller and Juergen Klinsmann.

A limit for Vogts

The recent failures dealt a great blow to Vogts' chances of extending his contract with AFFA for another term. Under his leadership, the team is having, perhaps, its worst qualifying tournament, while an away match with Liechtenstein and a match with Russia in Baku still lie ahead. Recently, the expert made quite a few high-sounding statements, but all this is hot air. Victory over Germany and a place in Euro 2012 are both fixed ideas for Vogts who seems to have forgotten that he is not coaching the Bundesteam, but is in Azerbaijan. Sometimes it seems that the coach has lost his sense of reality, and his remarks make us go hot and cold all over. It is interesting that since Germany won the European Cup in 1996, Vogts has not achieved any further success as a coach. He did not do well as a coach for Scotland and Nigeria, and his work in Azerbaijan has only proved his failures.

Incidentally, on the initiative of the German specialist, AFFA recently tightened its limit on foreign players in the national championship. Previously there was no limit, and the clubs could engage even 11 foreigners. However, from the 2010/11 season, the state of affairs will change. Vogts raised the topic, noting that he had difficulty in recruiting players for the national team. And it is quite understandable, since the basis of the same FC Baki, which is successfully playing in European tournaments, is made up entirely of Vikings. In the Champions League, the team regularly engaged only one home-grown football player - midfielder Baxtiyar Soltanov, so, given the limit, the champion of Azerbaijan should now determine its new transfer strategy.

At the same time, on the other side of the football pole is FC Karabakh which has proved that you can do well in Europe even without foreigners. The Albanian defender Admir Teli is the only foreigner in the team, which is why the success of Qurban Qurbanov's team in the Europa League deserves a special mention. Therefore, in the recent World Cup qualifier against Germany, Vogts decided to bet on Karabakh players who created all the goal-scoring chances in the match.

The lifting of the limit on foreign players was aimed not only at raising the level of the championship, but also at bringing down prices for local players, which, according to many experts, were overstated. But now the situation is different, and competition in the championship and the clubs' recent successes in the international arena show that AFFA achieved its interim goal and now it's time to change the strategy. Besides, the national team has no reserve, which naturally leads to a lack of competition.

It is noteworthy that in recent years, the limit on foreign players in Azerbaijani championships has changed three times. Initially, it was equal to five players simultaneously playing in a match, then the scheme became "3+2" (three on the pitch and two in reserve), but under pressure from many clubs the football authorities had to return to the old shuffle with five players.

When deciding, AFFA studied foreign experience regarding the increase in quotas on foreign players. The example of the "Big Five", which includes Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and France, is not for us, given their level of football infrastructure. Therefore, the association first turned its attention to the situation in CIS and Eastern European championships, taking a decision which was vital for Azerbaijani football.

Returning to World Cup qualifiers, it must be noted that following the Netherlands, Britain and Spain have already fulfilled their tasks and have won a place in South Africa. But Germany has yet to challenge the possibility of winning a place in a match against Russia in Moscow. The Bundesteam's main coach Joachim L?w said that in case of misfires in the upcoming duel, he expects aid from Azerbaijan as the Russians will hold the final match of the tournament in Baku. Well, it is good that there are still people who believe in Azerbaijan's national team. But it seems that the team will soon run out if its limit of confidence, if this has not happened already.