Idman.biz
"The team was too cautious in the match against France. In my opinion, the players should not have been afraid of the opponent's name on their home field, they should have played more bravely."
These words were said by Branimir Subasic, the former football player of the Azerbaijani national team, while talking about the team's 1:3 defeat to the French national team in Baku in the qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.
The 43-year-old veteran striker said that only the first minutes of the match were dominated by the Azerbaijani team: "I watched the match. I observed that Azerbaijani football players played hesitantly. The players have to work on themselves. Of course, it is possible to achieve better. Now you have to develop, just move forward. They have to work harder and improve their game. That's how football is. For example, the Swedish national team also has only one point. But they fight any opponent without hesitation. You can take an example from them," the coach said in a statement to AZERTAC.
He stated that he supports the new head coach Aykhan Abbasov staying in the national team: "To be honest, I don't have much information about his results as a coach. I just know he's a good person. In my opinion, he should continue to lead the team. The players have a lot to learn from him."
It should be noted that the Azerbaijani national team finished the group stage in 4th place with 1 point. The French national team, which increased its points to 16, qualified for the final stage as the group leader.
