UNINSPIRING NATIONAL TEAM

The Azerbaijani national football team has drawn a line under their international season. The home friendly with Albania was the last match of the year, however, the host team failed to please its fans, drawing 1-1. Although against a background of failure in World Cup 2010 qualifiers, this result may not seem so deplorable.

Football without a plan

The main problem with the national team is not that it is short of reserves or lacks strength in depth; it is a basic lack of style. The team were only successful twice during the year - they beat Andorra and Bahrain in away matches. However, these wins were far from the results for which AFFA engaged Berti Vogts to the post of chief coach. It seems that the German specialist has failed to create a team capable of losing with credit (in any case, we are used to this). There is an impression that our team never imposes its own style on the opposition, but tries to adopt their opponent's style, even in the fixtures with Lichtenstein and Albania, which, with the exception of small episodes, were played on the visitors' terms. There is no prospect of a change for the better, especially in view of the forthcoming matches with Germany and Russia, the group favourites.

A strange situation has developed. The national team includes footballers who are not even playing for their clubs' first teams. We mean the leaders of the team, Rasad Sadixov and Aleksandr Chertog-anov, who have been demoted to the reserves by Neftchi's chief coach, Hans-Jurgen Gede. In his opinion, these players spoil the atmosphere in the club and he cannot rely on them. Naturally, such a situation only worsens the headache for Vogts; however, he cannot influence his colleague. Although both coaches are from Germany, they have been almost completely out of contact with each other since Gede began working with Neftci. Of course, to put it mildly, the chief coach of the national team does not like this, but he is the one who has to find a common language with club coaches. This is not the situation right now, and only the national team suffers.

On the other hand, Vogts has recruited new players, including midfielder Araz Abdullayev, who was recently watched by Italy's Udinese. However, since the footballer does not speak the language, the club management decided to postpone the transfer, but it is quite possible that Araz will mature next year when he starts his probation period in Real Madrid. The German coach also called upon goalkeeper Rauf Mehdiyev, whom he considers to be an alternative to Kamran Agayev of Xazar-Lankaran, who played well at the start of the qualifiers. But as soon as Kamran or, to be more precise, his team lost their leadership of the premier league, Vogts decided to use the services of Mehdiyev.

Premier league in four rounds

Meanwhile, the premier league fixture list may undergo significant changes next season, said Ramin Musayev, head of the Professional Football League (PFL) of Azerbaijan. He pointed out that the championship will be held in four, rather than two, rounds, excluding Cup matches. So the teams will have plenty of time to train.

"There are quite a few problems, but perhaps one of the main problems is that clubs do not have their own stadiums. Not all premier league teams can boast their own grounds, not to mention those in the first division. It is interesting that only clubs on the periphery have no problems with grounds, whereas in Baku this problem is quite urgent. But all these difficulties are temporary because, from next year, every team will have its own ground. Neftci and Baki, for example, will have their own pitches in the new year, while Qarabag is building a new complex, which is why the situation will soon improve, especially as a club which does not have its own ground will not be allowed to play in the premier league next season," Musayev said.

He also touched on the issue of broadcasting matches. This right was handed over to the clubs last year. "This is quite a painful issue, and we intend to discuss it again. The point is that TV channels only broadcast games involving Xazar-Lankaran, Neftci and Baki, while the remaining teams remain in the shadows. This means that there is interest in the matches, but some clubs cannot organise it properly. For this reason, we will propose that the clubs of the Professional Football League give up their broadcasting rights," Musayev continued.

But no restriction on the number of foreign players is expected. "Many discussions have been held on this subject, but will the premier league get anything out of it? I will cite one simple example: twelve teams participate in the championship, i.e. each of them has at least two strikers. The total number of strikers is 24. Now tell me - do we have so many goal-scorers able to play for the national team? I think that good Azerbaijani footballers will always find a place on the pitch. Not one club has any interest in buying foreigners if they have promising local guys. The lifting of the restriction on foreign players motivates our players and makes them work on themselves in order to prove their right to be in the first team. If we impose a restriction, the guys will relax, knowing they will be in the first team in any case, excluding injuries, of course," says the PFL president.

Simurq sets the pace

At the same time, quite an interesting situation is developing in the upper echelons of the country's league, in which any one of five teams could still come out on top. The reason for such a thriller is the inconsistency of the leaders, and the result is that even the modest Zaqatala FC Simurq aspires to top spot. The reason is not clear: either the level of mid-ranking teams has risen or the potential champions are still "fooling around". The championship has already crossed the equator and it is high time to look at the intermediate standings. However, it is clear that nothing is clear yet, especially due to the frequent changes of leadership; as soon as the favourite falters, more successful rivals seize the opportunity to go top. For example, Xazar-Lankaran were replaced by Inter, but in the next round they lost first place to Simurq, and this may become a trend in Azerbaijani football.

This situation, however, is no surprise if we remember last season when Olimpik narrowly failed to strike gold. Only in the last round did they lose the leadership to Inter, so the trend is an established one. The question is how long Simurq, who feel quite confident in the upper reaches, will last. In any case, the league only benefits from their presence, because it is always interesting to see new teams. One such is the Zaqatala football club. It seems that the Ukrainian coach Roman Pokora, who heads the team, has found a recipe for success and his work should be noted now.

In general, it is quite interesting that foreign coaches are doing well in our clubs. Ukraine's Vladimir Khodukin made Inter champions last season, while Turkey's Rasim Kara is managing Xazar-Lankaran quite well. Gyoko Hajiyevski is also full of ambition at FC Baki. There are exceptions as well - Hans-Jurgen Gede, under whose leadership Neftci live at the bottom of the table - but this is a one-off "case". Of the local coaches, Yunis Huseynov has been doing quite well, and he has a chance of contending for gold medals with Karvan. We'll see how events develop because half the distance still lies ahead.