Soccer world champions secures confident win in Azerbaijan
Four-time soccer world cup winner, Germany, beat the host team 4:1 in Baku, as part of the FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifiers. A goal scored in Germany’s net by Azerbaijans’Dmitry Nazarov became the first missed goal in the qualifiers and, in general,throughout the last 8 matches.
Before the game, the Azerbaijan squad was ranked 3rd in the 6-team group, with 7 points. The Germans were ranked first, with no lost scores or missed goals.
Azerbaijan started the World Cup qualifiers under the slogan ‘Why not?’ Indeed, after 3 rounds, Azerbaijan managed to gain a record of 7 scores and waseven ranked 2nd in the tournament bracket for a while. However, its recent thrashing by the Northern Ireland squad has slightly toned down its fans’ euphoria.
Fans and players themselves understood that only a miracle could have saved them from a major defeat in the match against Germany, especially as the ‘German Machine’ arrived in Baku with the most combative staff. There was nothing to lose, so the only thing left for the Azeris was to keep up their end of the bargain – which they did.
“The atmosphere at the stadium was really great. I am grateful to the fans. We haven’t seen such an exciting game for a long time. The team was satisfied with the game. Despite the fact that they resisted a strong opponent, they didn’t just sit on the defensive. You will probably agree that this team is worth being proud of after those 90 minutes. As for our rival, I would like to congratulate them on the victory,” Robert Prosinečki,the Croatian head coach of the Azerbaijani national team, stated at a news conference following the match.
Joachim Löw, the German national team head coach, commended the Azerbaijanis’ performance: “We have seen a different Azerbaijan. This team is much better compared with the previous year. They are praiseworthy.”
Fans were also satisfied with the team’s performance. Here are some social media comments:
“They fought. They tried. They are poor players, but they tried very hard for our country.They scored against the world champions and they wanted to score more.”
“Now we can surely say that the Azerbaijan national team is stronger than the Brazilian national team. After all, the Germansscored 7 and not 4 goals against the Brazilians on their own field.”
It was the second visit of the current world champions to Azerbaijan. The first one was in Italy in 2002. The Azerbaijannational team is expected to hold its next match against Northern Ireland in Baku.
