Vidadi Rzayev: "Instead of looking to the future, we need to look back"

"Our national team left a good impression in the game against Ukraine." These words were said by Vidadi Rzayev in his statement to Sport24.az.

The former football player of the Azerbaijani national team shared his views on the team's defeat to Ukraine in the qualifying round of D-2026:

"The team lacked fighting spirit, but Aykhan Abbasov was able to bring it back, even if we lost. Some players are too old. The generation needs to be changed. Unfortunately, our younger national teams are losing. They should be players of the A team in the future. Instead of looking to the future, we need to look back. They increased the number in the Premier League to 12. But in return, they removed the limit on foreign players. This will not benefit us in any way. There is a shortage of players. Almost all of the lower age groups lose by a difference of 5 goals. Who will play in the future? No one answers this question. I have always been in favor of a local specialist working in the national team. It is too early to evaluate Aykhan Abbasov's work in the short time he has worked. In a short time, he was only able to restore the fighting spirit to the team. But overall, nothing good is visible."

It should be noted that the Azerbaijani national team lost to Ukraine with a score of 1:2 in the match held yesterday in Krakow, Poland.