Samir Aliyev, the head coach of the Azerbaijan national U-23 football team, which won a bronze medal at the V Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey, gave an interview to affa.az website.
- Congratulations on winning bronze medals at the Islamic Solidarity Games. What are your general opinions on the tournament?
- In the first match, we played against the Asian champion team Saudi Arabia. As it was our first game, we showed all our strength. Though the relative advantage was with the opposing team, we played well. Unfortunately, in the last seconds, we were awarded a penalty that was not on our goal and we lost. The referee was mistaken by the noise and awarded an 11-meter free kick. In the second game, we had to compete with the Iranian team. According to the information I have, the Iranian team refused to participate in the tournament at the last moment because the clubs did not allow their key players to the national team. We were lucky, so to speak. If the Iranian national team came, our schedule would be tighter. They did not come and as a team we had the opportunity to rest more and prepare better for the next game. In the last match of the group, we were satisfied with a draw to qualify for the semi-finals. However, before the game against Morocco, I told the players that if we go out for a draw, we will lose. I said that it is important to win. During the game, we evaluated our opportunities and scored goals. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal in the minutes added to the main time of the game. We wish to qualify for the semi-finals with a win, but it didn't happen. The main thing is that we left the group.
- In the semi-finals, you played with the champion Turkish team...
- Turkey was one of the main favorites of the tournament. It was the owner of the field, and the team was made up of strong players. In the semi-final game, we made 7-8 substitutions in the squad and created conditions for everyone to play. Unfortunately, we lost with a minimal score.
- What can you say about the game with the Algerian team, where you won bronze medals?
- It is not easy to play in a day in tournaments with a tight schedule. The team must be functionally highly trained. You should have two same level squads to play a stable game. We were trying to rotate as much as we could. Algeria also had a tough game in the semi-finals. We knew that they would be tired. It was a game of same level. Both teams had opportunities to score. However, the score was not opened. We made more accurate penalty kicks and won the bronze medals of the tournament.
- Do you think that the result is satisfactory?
- Let's admit that when we went to Turkey, we had little hope of getting results. Because, as I said before, we could not take the squad we wanted. Before the tournament, in the meeting with the team, I said that I would give a chance to every player. We had to meet on August 1, but for various reasons we met a day later. We had the opportunity to complete only 7 trainings. In both of them, we mainly worked on standard situations.
- If you had the opportunity to play with the team you wanted, would the result be different?
- I should mention that the teams that came to the tournament were very strong. For example, after the game with us, a member of the Moroccan team was transferred to Trabzonspor. Each team played outstanding football. And we were mostly struggling. Of course, if we had fought with experienced players, we could have achieved a better result. We have analyzed the competitors, fully studied their weaknesses and strengths. We built our game more on defense. If we had played open football, the scores would have been different.
- How did it this fact affect the team; the games, especially the match for the 3rd place, were played during the day, when the weather was warm?
- It is normal to have certain organizational problems in such mass competitions. I can point out that the calendar was tight and holding games during the day time was a disadvantage.
- You said that these games will be useful for the 21-year-olds in order to get good results in the qualifiers...
- Yes. We competed with a very young squad compared to other teams. We got results with young players. Many of these children are candidates for U-21 for the next qualifying round. We saw what kind of situation they were in and what their shortcomings were. As I said, it was a good experience for both young players and us coaches. I thank the clubs and coaches for sending trained players.
