Sport24.az
Rashad Eyyubov, the head coach of the Azerbaijan national under-21 football team, is satisfied with the team's performance against Gibraltar in the European Championship qualifying round. Sport24.az reports that the specialist stated this in a statement to the AFFA press service.
He emphasized that the match was interesting:
"This game was interesting for me first of all. The main issue was how we would break the block where the opponent was defending with 10 players. We created several scoring chances in the first half, but we couldn't capitalize on them. In the second half, we changed the system and put more pressure on the opponent. Overall, we deserved to score more goals, but I am happy with the 3 points and the victory. We knew that the game here would be difficult. The Czech Republic and Scotland also faced the same problems."
Rashad Eyyubov said that he was not surprised by the performance of Murad Mammadov, who scored the winning goal:
"I knew that Murad Mammadov would be one of the 'key' players of the match. Because he has excellent qualities for playing against 'low blocks'. I hope that this goal will give Murad more confidence. I believe that this result will be a positive impulse for the development of the players."
He also shared his thoughts on Rufat Abbasov, who joined the U-21 camp after the official matches of the main national team:
"I thank Rufat. After a long and difficult journey, he showed character and fought for 90 minutes. In general, the whole team showed that it can play in a more dominant style. Many players surprised me in a positive way."
R.Eyyubov also touched upon the fact that the head coach of the main national team, Aykhan Abbasov, watched the match from the stadium:
"It was nice that the head coach of the national team watched our game. This gave the players extra motivation. Now we will analyze the work done. We are optimistic about the future."
It should be noted that the Azerbaijan national team won the away match against Gibraltar with a score of 1:0 in the qualifying round of the European Championship.
