Former captain of the Turkish national team and Galatasaray, Bülent Korkmaz, wants the Azerbaijani national team to qualify for the final stage of the World Cup.
The expert said this in an interview with "Report".
The coach, who previously worked in Azerbaijan, at the "Baku" club, evaluated the current potential of the Turkish national team:
"We are very happy as a country. Currently, Turkey has a very good generation of football players. This squad is both young and experienced enough. This generation also played in the European Championship. We have very high-quality football players who play in the top European leagues, and I think they deserved this success. I wish the Azerbaijani national team could also participate in the World Cup".
The former defender compared the current squad with the 2002 team:
"In 2002, I was both a player and the captain of the team that took third place at the World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. In order to call the current squad the strongest in history, they must repeat the same success at the World Cup. Nevertheless, the potential is very high. If they can achieve that result, then a comparison can be made".
B. Korkmaz also answered a question about the opponents in the group and the team's chances:
"There is still a lot of time before the matches. It is difficult to say anything definite now without analyzing the opponents. Because I have not watched their last games and I have no opinion about them. But we always have a chance".
It should be noted that the Turkish national team will compete with the USA, Australia and Paraguay in Group D of the 2026 World Cup. The World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19 in the USA, Canada and Mexico.