Idman.biz
The Azerbaijan men's national basketball team was in a deplorable state in the first match against North Macedonia in the EuroBasket 2027 qualifying round.
These thoughts were expressed to Idman.Biz by Elkhan Aliyev, the former head coach of the Azerbaijan national team, an experienced specialist.
He commented on the heavy defeat of Tair Bakhshiyev's team in Skopje with a score of 49:87.
"I watched the game from the first minute to the last, and frankly, I did not expect the Azerbaijani national team to look so weak at the international level. The team was in a terrible state both tactically and physically. It is an honor to play for the Azerbaijani national team, and basketball players had to fight to the end. But we did not see such a struggle from our guys," said E. Aliyev.
According to him, one of the reasons for the heavy defeat was the weak performance of our team member Kamran Mammadov.
"He ruined everything, but for some reason he stayed on the court for 35 minutes. He neither played himself, nor allowed others to. Was this not visible from the technical zone? The scheme had to be changed, another basketball player had to be played. Kamran ruined the whole game. I think that in terms of level, he is behind our previous leaders such as Fuad Niftaliyev or Zaur Pashayev," the expert noted.
The expert also said that he was surprised that Ender Poladkhanli, who had not fully recovered from the injury, was called up to the national team.
"The guy hasn't played a single game in the championship due to injury. How could he be invited to the team in this case? There are basketball players in Azerbaijan who can help the national team with a more aggressive and emotional game. But for some reason they were not in the game in Skopje.
Yesterday all our players were listless, like fish thrown on the shore. There were more coaches on the bench than basketball players. This team in no way resembled the Azerbaijani national team, which usually goes to battle regardless of the opponent," he emphasized.
In addition to personnel problems, Aliyev noted that there were serious shortcomings in the team's tactical preparation.
"Our basketball players could not shoot even once without an opposing defender. That is, we did not have the correct tactical combinations that would break through the unstable defense and create an opportunity for a free throw. North Macedonia cannot be considered the strongest team in the Balkans; you could play completely differently with them," said E. Aliyev.
He also suggests that the national team members did not have time to prepare for the game in Skopje.
"I have not seen any information about the Azerbaijani national team preparing for the EuroBasket 2027 qualifying round. It's as if they just gathered at the airport and went to play in Skopje. Unfortunately, the team performed like this, despite the fact that it is not a bad team in terms of height. It's just that there was no leader in the team who could take responsibility for the game," he added.
In the EuroBasket 2027 qualifying round, the national team will play its next game against the Luxembourg team in Baku on Sunday.
Mustafa Dashdemirov
