Idman.biz
The defeat of the Azerbaijani national team in the away match against France in the qualifying round of the World Championship is being discussed not only by football fans, but also by veteran football players.
Idman.Biz asked Vali Gasimov, one of the most famous players in the history of the country's football, currently working as a coordinator at the "Shamakhi" club's Football Academy, to share his impressions of yesterday's France-Azerbaijan match.
- What are your impressions of the game? Did you expect this result?
- Frankly, I am well acquainted with Aykhan Abbasov's working principle. He is also the head coach of our club. Therefore, I was confident that there would be no crushing defeat as many people thought. Aykhan is good at building the game from defense, and we saw it again last night. To be honest, I thought the score would be 0:2, but the French managed to increase the difference. In any case, compared to the 0:5 defeat against Iceland, the team's game made a completely different impression this time.
- But despite this, we still couldn't score a goal...
- As I said, the head coach built the game on defense, and this tactic logically had to be completed with counterattacks. But the counterattacks did not work because the opponent did not allow it. The French did not give our football players a chance to even breathe. Moreover, the difference in level was clearly visible.
- We were able to make only one shot on the opponent's goal during the entire game, and it didn't even hit the goal. Maybe the forwards are also to blame for this?
- If you mean Emreli, it would not be correct to blame him for all the shortcomings. Yes, he could not fully show his potential, but let's not forget that it is very difficult for forwards against such high-level opponents. They are dependent on passing and Mahir was simply not allowed to play. The French removed not only Emreli, but also Nariman Akhundzade and Musa Gurbanli, who replaced him, from the game. That is why, when the ball reached Mahir, two or three defenders immediately squeezed him. After all, let's agree that he is not Mbappe to easily pass everyone.
- As a former striker, are you just defending your colleagues?
- No, of course, I'm just stating the fact (laughs). I want to emphasize once again that the striker depends on the pass. After receiving that pass, he must protect the ball and go to the free zone. But where is the free zone? The French defenders performed their functions very accurately in this game and left our forwards neither breath nor room to move.
Vugar Vugarli
