“The players on the national team don’t believe in themselves.”
Former Azerbaijan national team midfielder Aleksandr Chertoganov shared this opinion in an interview with Apasport.az, Idman.biz reports.
Reflecting on the team’s ongoing struggles, Chertoganov said:
“I don’t know what’s going wrong with the national team — I honestly don’t understand it. Of course, consistently poor results are not good. Clearly, something needs to change within the squad. Maybe the players just lack self-confidence.”
He also commented on Azerbaijan’s recent match against Latvia:
“Latvia is not a weak team. They’ve always had a solid, well-organized squad, and that hasn’t changed. Azerbaijan and Latvia are more or less equally matched.”
Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup qualifier against France, Chertoganov admitted it will be a major challenge:
“Everything is interconnected, and it seems one of the biggest problems is the team’s psychological state. In football, a lack of belief is one of the worst things. The team needs support in order to achieve good results.”
Chertoganov, who originally hails from Ukraine, earned 52 caps for Azerbaijan between 2006 and 2013.
Idman.biz
