"We are very happy to be the winners of the tournament."
Idman.Biz reports that the head coach of the Azerbaijani national team, Aykhan Abbasov, said this at the press conference held after the victory over the Sierra Leone team (1:1, p. 9:8) in the final of the "FIFA Series-2026" tournament.
He said that they made certain mistakes in the first half and could not put the final point in the attacks.
"After the opponent opened the scoring, they started to play more carefully in defense. The changes we made after the break yielded results and we were able to equalize. The fans hadn't watched such an interesting game for a long time. We must continue our work to better prepare for the Nations League. The players kept their cool during the penalties, and this was a valuable experience for us," Abbasov said.
The head coach also spoke about the Nations League perspective.
"This match gave us signals. The stronger the opponents, the more we have to improve. We want to be ready for the UEFA Nations League.
We were also watching the group of our opponent, Liechtenstein. We watched their games with Tanzania. There is no weak team. We wanted to make the most of the gathering. Many new players came, we tested them. God willing, we will see its benefits.
From game to game, players create opinions about themselves. Injuries to some players can make our job difficult. There were injuries now as well. We are analyzing both teams. Lithuania is a really strong team. They perform very well at home. The chances are equal. We will try to be the winner of the group," Abbasov added.