UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE: LESSONS LEARNT

Group stage of the UEFA Nations League was a complete failure for the national football team of Azerbaijan. Our football community was quite optimistic regarding this tournament, seeing it as a chance to reach the final stage of the European Championship 2020. Taking the second place in the group made up of the national teams of the Faroe Islands, Malta and Kosovo, Gurban Gurbanov's team lost the chance to reach the playoffs. After all, the Nations League was designed as a chance for weak teams to get to the final stage of Europe's major football tournament. Now, the Azerbaijani footballers will be able to attend the matches of Euro-2020 as fans including the games to be played in Baku.

Controversial theories regarding the reasons for the fiasco are still on air, albeit with less sense of emotionality following the failure. Some fans blame football players, others blame the head coach, while the rest blame the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA). There are many opinions, and each has its own rationale.

If our team did not suffer defeat from Kosovo (0:4) and lost the last match in fair contest, the result would not have caused such a stir. But the outcome of the match in Pristina literally shocked the fans.

"Our rival was indeed stronger. They were better psychologically. I must admit that they clearly excelled us in performance. We had to win. That was our only intention on the field. The early goal confused our plans. We can blame fatigue and psychological pressure but the primary reason was the skills of our opponent. I have repeatedly said that it is necessary to improve the level of the national championship, and the potential of our players," Gurban Gurbanov said after the match.

But is this the only reason why the national team of Azerbaijan failed to qualify for the play-off stage, where the only rivals were the teams of the Faroe Islands, Malta and Kosovo?

Head coach to blame?

Certainly, the defeat from the Kosovo team was partly the fault of the head coach. No matter how weak our players were, they had to snatch victory from Malta in both matches and not be overly cautious in the home game with Kosovo. But it would wrong to blame Gurbanov only, since this is his first year as the head coach of the national team. Perhaps, the fans expected too much based on Gurbanov's acclaimed success during his tenure as the head coach of the Garabagh FC. But we should not forget that Garabagh is mostly made up of strong legionaries, which is not true for the national team. There are many other factors that make Gurbanov, as the head coach of Garabagh, different from Gurbanov, as the head coach of the Azerbaijani national team. Anyway, the contract with the head coach of the national team is concluded for six years and it is still too early to say whether he justifies the expectations of not.

But on a brighter note…

It can be argued that even world-famous coaches cannot secure tangible success with the current composition of the Azerbaijani national football team. Indeed, our players are well behind European ones in terms of skills and football knowledge. They are reluctant to become legionnaires, are not professional enough, do not work on themselves, and prefer earning money at home than playing abroad. As a result, foreign clubs are not interested in them, and managers have no reason to recommend them to other teams. Therefore, Gurbanov should plan his work based on real potential of his players. It is unlikely that the situation changes for better in the near future. Even limiting the number of foreign players and the reduction of wages do not guarantee a stronger team.

However, we still remember that it is the same team, which under the leadership of Robert Prosinecki made history in the last qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup, finishing second in the group after four games. Although the national team has demonstrated unsatisfactory results later, in general, the performance of the national team left room to be optimistic.

Take potluck

The other responsible party for the failure of the national team is AFFA. The association needs to seriously analyse the problems, recognise the lack of competition in the national championship, as well as the miserable state of football in children's and younger age groups. National clubs are focused on the foreign market opting for short-term success. Reinforcing the line-ups with legionaries, they are trying to qualify for the European Cups, forgetting about the need to develop younger age groups and schools for children.

Over the past five years, we have not heard a single new name in the national championship, which indicates the absence of competition. The selection for the national team is held among only 20-25 players. For example, after the leave of Rashad Sadikhov, the national team had difficulties with a worthy replacement in the defence. The injury of goalkeeper Kamran Aghayev has also become a big problem for the national team, because AFFA cannot find a suitable substitute.

In this situation, we cannot talk about radical changes in the composition of the national team. No time for that either. The qualifying round of the European Championship, which starts in March, is approaching. It seems unrealistic to achieve success through fundamental changes in just three months. It is unlikely that our team takes one of the two first places at the upcoming qualifying stage to pass to the final stage of the tournament. However, a higher place in the group stage will strengthen the team’s faith.