FROM THE NATIONS LEAGUE TO EURO-2020

The draw for the inaugural first season of the Nations League, the recently announced UEFA international football tournament of European national teams, took place at UEFA's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The national team of Azerbaijan is in the third group of League D along with the national teams of Malta, Faroe Islands, and Kosovo.

This is a great chance to qualify for the Euro-2020, which is going to have four matches in our country. Gurbanov's team just needs to prepare seriously to take advantage of this opportunity. At the same time, the national team does not expect to confront weak rivals.

Main rival

The Kosovo team became a member of UEFA and FIFA in 2016. But for those who consider this young team as a ‘whipping boy’, we recommend to know the team composition well. At the qualifying stage, it was staffed almost completely by legionnaires from Croatian Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, Italian Roma, Ukrainian Vorskla Poltava, Swiss Grasshoppers and Lucerne, Danish Brøndby, Vitesse, Heerenveen, Dutch Roda and other clubs.

If Azerbaijan has only a couple of legionaries, all 33 players of the Kosovo national team were invited to the team last year from other countries. Only two of them have so far remained without clubs.

At the qualifying stage of the World Cup 2018, Kosovo played against Iceland, Croatia, Ukraine, Turkey, and Finland, albeit unsuccessful against the strong rivals with a single draw against the Finnish team (1:1). But the clubs which the Kosovan players represent, and the team results of the past year hint that this team will be the main rival of the Azerbaijani national team.

Well-deserved rival

The players of the national team of the Faroe Islands mainly play in the championships of Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. Although they are not so famous, this is a worthy opponent. At the last qualifying stage, they played in the same group as the teams of Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Latvia, and Andorra. After defeating Latvia and Andorra, the islanders had a draw with Hungary. With nine points in total, the Faroe Islands was ranked the fourth of its group. They scored four and missed sixteen goals. For comparison, at the last qualifying stage, our rivals invited the national team of Azerbaijan to the center of the field 19 times. By the way, the national team of the Faroe Islands stands 21 points higher than Azerbaijan in the FIFA ranking table.

The outsider

Definitely, the outsider of our group in the Nations League is the national team of Malta. Composed mainly of amateur footballers, it does not differ much from the San Marino team, which missed 5 goals from our players. However, unlike us, the Maltese also have footballers playing for foreign clubs, who play for infamous clubs though. Series C of the Italian championship, the second league in England, the second division of the Swiss or Australian championships are not prestigious championships. At the qualifying stage of the World Cup 2018, the opponents of the Maltese in Group F were England, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Lithuania. The Maltese had a draw (1:1) only in a match with Lithuania and lost the rest. In ten meetings, they scored only 3 goals.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Team compositions of our group rivals should not frighten us. We have a gaming experience with the teams of the Faroe Islands and Malta. We played with the Faroers only once in a friendly match in 1996 with a winning score of 3:0. The Azerbaijani team played against the Maltese six times, and the results were different.

The new head coach Gurban Gurbanov has a huge international experience. Given the eight-month period ahead, the head coach is likely to realize his plans. If our team solves the first task and leaves the group, then in the semifinals it will meet with the winner of one of the other groups.

In Group 1 represented by Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Andorra, it is expected that one of the first two teams will score the most points. Thus, the advantage of the Kazakhs is noticeable - they look more confident in European competition. However, we cannot underestimate the Georgians who heavily rely on their legionaries.

Group 2 includes the teams of Belarus, Moldova, and Luxembourg. Belarus and Luxembourg have great chances. At the last qualifying stage, these teams were part of the same group. One meeting ended with the victory of Luxembourgers, while the second one ended with a draw.

Finally, in group 4 we have Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein, and Gibraltar. The main battle will unfold between the first two teams.

As to the chances, if we qualify for the semi-finals, our likely rival will be one of the following teams: Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Luxembourg, Armenia, or Macedonia. It is quite real to defeat each of them. None of the rivals has obvious advantages over our team. Therefore, the main goal is to complete the fight in the group stage. This will improve our chances to play in the Euro-2020, which we have dreamed of for many years. This is our best chance for the near future.

Head coach of Azerbaijan Gurban Gurbanov, who participated in the draw, said that the team regarded every opponent seriously. "We need to get to know the rivals in the group and prepare for meetings with them. We have time to improve our team and be prepared. I think we will set an even more cohesive and strong team before the tournament. Any result is possible in world football today. Sometimes even the weakest team can defeat a stronger rival. The Nations League will be held for the first time. Therefore, everyone will watch this competition. All teams will try to make their best. If we met with these rivals in a different tournament, playing with them would probably be easier. Seizing this opportunity, each of the teams will prepare seriously to this tournament," said the head coach of the Azerbaijani team.

Apparently, the results of the group stage are important not only for moving ahead. The distribution of teams during the qualifying stage of Euro-2020 draw will be held based on the results of the Nations League. Furthermore, only one team from each league will qualify for the final stage of the Euro-2020. The best teams of leagues, who fail the qualifying stage, will compete in the playoffs in March 2020.