Nazim Aliyev: It is possible to play head-to-head with Iceland and Ukraine

"The Azerbaijani national team can play head-to-head with the national teams of Iceland and Ukraine in the qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup."

Idman.biz reports that this was stated by Nazim Aliyev, the top scorer of the Azerbaijani championships with 183 goals, in his statement to "Report".

The former striker assessed the upcoming games of the national team: "Ukraine is not in a normal state. We can play head-to-head with this opponent. Also with the Icelandic national team. Everything depends on the players' physical and psychological preparation for the game. Psychologists should work with the players. This also happened in the Soviet era. Not only being strong in football, but also psychological preparation is important. We used to score more points in the group. It should be like this this year as well. It is true that it is difficult to get out of the group. But the players must believe in themselves."

He stated that our football is developing: "The lack of players nominated for the national team and limited choice creates difficulties. But in my opinion, our football has developed. Our clubs play well and pass stages. "Qarabağ" achieved a very good result. I think every Azerbaijani football player in this team should be invited to the national team."

It should be noted that the national team will face Iceland in Reykjavik on September 5 and Ukraine in Baku on September 9 as part of the qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.

Idman.biz