Azerbaijan draws 2-2 with Malta
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijani team has been held to a 2-2 draw with Malta in the Group H match in the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying group on September 6.
Azerbaijan’s goals came from Rahid Amirguliyev in the 36th and 80th minutes.
Azerbaijan now has six points and rank fifth in the group.
Head coach of the national team Robert Prosinecki, commenting on the match, said the Azerbaijani team showed its best football under his leadership.
“The players showed good football. They were attacking the whole match. The contestants hit the ball twice and scored two goals. We have caused many strikes. Of course, mistakes happen in football,” he said.
Prosinecki noted that despite the team lost 2 points, it played well and all the players did their best.
Elkhan Mammadov, the Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Association of Football Federations, said Malta had two chances, and they scored two goals. “We were losing, but were able to win back. We deserved 3 points.”
He further added that the game of both teams was impacted by fatigue after playing with the group leaders, noting that “Malta played at home and wanted to play well.”
Captain of Azerbaijani team Rashad Sadigov said: “Everything was going well for us with the score 1:0. Two mistakes in the second-half have complicated our task. We controlled the game for 90 minutes, equalized the score, and wanted to hit the third goal, but failed. It is a pity, especially in a game like this.”
The Azerbaijani team continues its unbeaten streak in the qualifiers to three games, including a victory over Malta (2:0) and a draw with Norway (0:0), and a draw with Croatia (0:0).
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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