"The confidence and desire of our players in the recent matches show that our team will approach the next two games with high spirits and will put up a decent fight."
These words were said by Rauf Aliyev, a former football player of the Azerbaijani national team, while talking about the games that the team will play against Iceland and France in Baku as part of the qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.
He stated that he believes that our team will get points from Iceland: "As you know, important players such as Mahir Emreli and Elvin Jafarquliyev will not be able to help the team in today's match. Their absence is a great loss. However, other players are now strong enough to fight against the opponent. We need to forget the 0:5 defeat in the first away match and focus on today's match. It is true that the Icelandic national team has experienced players. However, we also have a chance to get points. Because the new head coach Aykhan Abbasov has created a good atmosphere in the team. This increases our confidence a bit," he said in an interview with AZERTAC.
The former striker also shared his thoughts on the match against France, which will be held in 3 days at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium: "Everyone knows that we have little chance of winning points in the match against France. Despite all the difficulties and the difference in level, I believe that our players will fight to the end."
It should be noted that the Azerbaijan-Iceland match will start today at 21:00 at the 8th kilometer settlement stadium.