"First of all, I congratulate everyone. We needed this."
Idman.biz reports that these words were said to CBC Sport by Aykhan Abbasov, the acting head coach of the national team, after the World Cup 2026 qualifying match with Ukraine.
The match held in Baku ended in a draw - 1:1.
"I want to congratulate the players. Because we were in a very difficult situation. I think today the players did more than they were supposed to. Because they came from a difficult trip, they were tired. Today we had to fight, we had to show character. We had one day, we couldn't change much here," Abbasov said.
According to him, experienced players can help the team recover a lot: "We could have lost as well. Our opponent was Ukraine. To be honest. I was very happy with the character of the football players. Maybe Elvin (Jafarguliyev) hasn't run this much. I also want to thank the fans. Hopefully, everything will be fine. I think we did what we had to do."
According to Abbasov, the national team needs spirit: "Hopefully, these will also happen. The fans want results, which is normal. But I don't think our team has had this desire for a long time."
Idman.biz