Azerbaijani national team, consisting of U-19 futsal players, who played their first match in the preliminary round of the European Championship, defeated Kosovo.
Adalat Alakbarov, a player of Azerbaijan national team who scored a brace in the match that ended with a score of 4:1 and was distinguished by his determined play, gave an interview to azfutzal.az, Idman.biz reports.
- Could you share your impressions about the match...
- It was a difficult match. We knew why we came here. Even when we were in Baku, the federation leadership emphasized the importance of passing the stage in a meeting with the team. Of course, we had to justify this trust.
- It was like there were two different halves. What did the head coach tell us to pay attention to at halftime?
- We arrived in San Marino yesterday. Of course, traveling so much and then going to training caused some fatigue. The coaches did their best to get us ready for the match. Fatigue had some effect in the first half. But we managed to recover at halftime. I wouldn't say we were excited. True, it was our first time participating in such a match. In the second half, we almost didn't give them any chance. We won a necessary, important victory. Now we have to continue it. We have only seen half of the work. The more important match is the match with San Marino.
- This went down in history as the first victory of the U-19. How did the statistics affect us in terms of motivation?
- We may be 12 futsal players here, but we represent a winning country like Azerbaijan, with a population of 10 million. Only victories are worthy of our beautiful country. We are very happy that we managed to do this. But we cannot relax.
- You scored a double. After both goals, you drew attention with a special gesture. Who did you dedicate these goals to?
- I held the initial letter of my deceased father's name - M (his middle name is Mazahir). I had promised in advance, I even told my family - my mother, my brother, my sister - that if I scored a goal, I would make this gesture. Thank God, first of all, we won and I achieved my dream. No child can lose or forget the suffering of their parents.
- The next opponent is the home team, San Marino. Have you watched their game? What would you like to note about this opponent?
- The name of the opponent has changed for us, but the approach to the match and discipline will be in place. We won today. We must forget about this now. Because the second match is also important. To achieve our goal, we must leave the field victorious. San Marino is the home team, they will play in front of their fans. We will also remain true to our playing style, and we will do everything to win.
Idman.biz
