Ceyhun Sultanov: "If we had played open football against France, we would have lost by a large margin"

If the Azerbaijani national team had preferred open football in the match against France, a large defeat would have been inevitable.

Former national team player Ceyhun Sultanov said this in an interview with "Report" while talking about the match against France in the qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.

The former midfielder emphasized that head coach Aykhan Abbasov made the right choice:

"The head coach prepared the game plan correctly. The players defended very well. It should be taken into account that the opponent is France. Despite the 0:3 defeat, the team did not "fall apart". The opponent's level of skill was obvious. I said before that if the defense is reliable, we will concede 3 goals. The main thing is that we saw a determined national team on the field."

C.Sultanov also spoke about the importance of playing with the same tactics in the match against Ukraine:

"I think Aykhan Abbasov will use the same choice. Because you have to do it against strong opponents. You have to build a good defense and rely on counter-attacks. It must be admitted that there are very good football players in the Ukrainian national team."

It should be noted that the France-Azerbaijan match ended with a 3:0 victory for the opponent. The national team will hold its next match against Ukraine on October 13.