Azerbaijan win 3-0 against India

India lost 0-3 against Azerbaijan in the first-ever international friendly between the two sides at The Rugby Sevens Stadium in Dubai.

After the 5-1 trashing at the hands of Oman last Thursday in Muscat, India coach Savio Medeira made seven changes to his starting line-up. Savio had said before the match that he would once more experiment with Manish Maithani, Adil Khan and Francis Fernandes getting their first India starts with Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Syed Rahim Nabi, Raju Gaikwad and Reisangmi Vashum returning to the starting eleven.

Defender Gouramangi Singh had the honour of leading India onto the field as the captain for the first-time. The match kicked-off with a minute's silence for former India captain Sailendra Nath Manna, who died at the age of 87 in the early hours of today in Kolkata. As a mark of respect Team India wore black armbands in the match.

Like against Oman India conceded an early goal. In the third minute Vugar Nadirov gave Azerbaijan a 1-0 lead after goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhury's goal-kick only reached an Azerbaijan midfielder, who played the ball through for Nadirov to slot home. Thereafter Azerbaijan had more of the ball and the match with India often forced to chase the faster and physically better build team from the Caucasus. Three minutes from the interval young Raju Gaikwad unnecessarily brought down Mahir Shukurov to gift Azerbaijan a penalty just like he had done in similar fashion against Darryl Roberts from Trinidad&Tobago last August. Shukurov himself took the spot-kick and send Subhashish the wrong way. It ended 0-2 at half-time.

Like against Oman India started off better in the second session as they showed more presence and purpose. The best chance came in the 51st minute when a Francis Fernandes cross from the right was headed goalwards by Joaquim Abranches, but it was cleared by keeper Kamran Agayev. The game slowed down in the second session allowing India more possession of the ball, but rarely was the midfield or the wingers able to create something for the striker as Sushil Singh would often drop back to simply touch the ball.

Towards the end of the game the Berti Vogts coached Azerbaijan once more upped the tempo and it was substitute Nizami Hajiyev to finish any hopes of an India comeback with Azerbaijan's third goal in the 84th minute of a Vugar Nadirov pass. The match ended India zero, Azerbaijan three.

It was India's last match as part of the preparatory camp in Dubai ahead of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup in Nepal. India did lose both their matches against superior opposition, but hopefully this match experience will help the team in the 'Group of Death' against North Korea, the Philippines and Tajikistan.

India return back to New Delhi from their preparatory-cum-selection camp in Dubai on March 3 and will proceed to the Nepali capital Kathmandu the very next day.


MATCH STATS

India 0-3 (0-2) Azerbaijan - Goals: 0-1 Vugar Nadirov (3'), 0-2 Mohir Shukurov (43' pen), 0-3 Nizami Hajiyev (84')

INDIA
25-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury; 22-Syed Rahim Nabi, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh [C], 3-Raju Eknath Gaikwad, 27-Gurjinder Kumar Singh; 32-Reisangmi Vashum (81' 20-Lalrindika Ralte), 45-Manish Maithani (70' 28-Jewel Raja Sheikh), 17-Adil Ahmed Khan (90' 47-Lenny Rodrigues), 26-Francis Fernandes (90+2' 10-Lester Mark Fernandez); 18-Sushil Kumar Singh, 9-Joaquim Santan Abranches (85' 50-Manandeep Singh)
Substitutes: 1-Karanjit Singh, ??-Arindam Bhattacharya, 5-Anwar, 7-Baldeep Singh, 12-Anthony Pereira, 16-Samir Naik

WATCH LIVE: The INDIA vs Azerbaijan friendly

WATCH LIVE the INDIA vs Azerbaijan friendly from 17.30 local time (19.00 IST // 14.30 CET) onwards here on my blog as a Livestream from The Sevens Stadium in Dubai!

Livestream courtesy Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan!

Weakened India take on Azerbaijan in friendly tomorrow

A weakened Indian national football team take on Azerbaijan in the first-ever international friendly match between the two sides at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai at 17.30 local time (19.00 IST).

India coach Savio Medeira hasn't decided on his starting eleven for tomorrow with some players still carrying some niggles here and there with Savio saying, "The intention stays to try as many players as possible," which has earned Savio a lot of criticism back home from the media and fans then after winning the 2011 SAFF Cup in December and the good second half performance against FC Bayern Munich in January 2012, the expectations back home have risen.

Against Oman the new look Team India did look out of sorts for a great part of the match as they suffered a 1-5 defeat. Speaking about it Savio said, "This is what football is all about. We need to be patient. The new boys will settle down," only to repeat, "But we need to be patient."

Azerbaijan are ranked 109th in the FIFA world rankings against the 95th rank of Oman, but they play their qualifiers in the much tougher Europe so their ranking might have little to say. This is India's last qualifier before the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup next month in Nepal and ideally Savio would play his starting eleven for the upcoming tournament in this match. But with certain players still unfit an experimental Indian side is once more to take the field with hopefully some more experience in there through players like Syed Rahim Nabi and Rocus Lamare on the field.

Azerbaijan are currently in Dubai like India for a training camp preparating for their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers later in the year. They played Singapore on Friday and were held to a late two-all draw by the Southeast Asian nation, while they play India tomorrow and then Palestine on Wednesday.

Speaking about Azerbaijan Savio said, "They are a strong side and we know they will come hard at us."

Azerbaijan are coached by seasoned German Berti Vogts, who with Germany won the 1996 European Championships; and thereafter went on to coach Bayer 04 Leverkusen and then the national sides of Kuwait, Scotland and Nigeria before taking over Azerbaijan in April 2008.

There will be no live telecast on Television from the match, but those interested can watch the game live on www.affatv.az (the official website of the Azerbaijan FF).

India to play Azerbaijan in friendly

The AIFF has finalised another international friendly for Team India during the team's preparatory camp in Dubai for the upcoming 2012 AFC Challenge Cup. India will be facing Azerbaijan on February 27 in Dubai.

Azerbaijan, the Euroasian side from the Caucasus region, plays its football in UEFA (Europe) with former Germany coach Berti Vogts as their manager. The team is currently ranked 111th in the FIFA World rankings and they were in a group with Germany, Turkey, Belgium, Austria and Kazakhstan in the Euro2012 qualifiers.

The friendly is possible as Azerbaijan will be in Dubai at the same time as India for a camp of their own. While in Dubai Azerbaijan are set to play further friendlies against Singapore (February 24) and Palestine (February 29).

The camp in Dubai starts on February 15. The AIFF had earlier announced a friendly for Team India against Oman on February 23 in their capital Muscat.

Germany close to Euro2012 qualification

Germany made it seven wins out of seven games in their 2012 European Championship Group A qualifiers. The Germans won 3-1 against Azerbaijan in their capital Baku last night to move closer to qualify for the final round next year.

Only in theory Germany could now miss next years finals in Poland and the Ukraine, if they lose their remaining three matches while Turkey would have to win their remaining four games. But that looks unlikely for a young German side which has vastly matured over the last year.

Germany coach Joachim Loew once more had to replace numerous absentees and put together a new playing eleven with captain and usual right back Philipp Lahm pushed up as a defensive midfielder. Interestingly Lahm was the oldest German player at the age of only 27 with the starting elevens average age below 24, the lowest ever for a German national team.

"Hard to believe that at 27, I was the oldest out there, but it shows the depth of young talent we have in the squad," said Lahm, who was winning his 80th cap.

Azerbaijan did have their moments early on, but goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was up to the task. Germany needed time to settle down, but once they did they controlled proceedings. It was left to Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Oezil to open the scoring on the half hour mark with a placed shot and then four minutes before the break Oezil got an assist after he got a through ball from Holger Badstuber and squared the ball into the middle for Mario Gomez to slot home.

After the break Germany didn't push enough for the third goal and conceded only a minute from time when Azerbaijan striker Murad Huseynov shot past Neuer after the German defence wasn't able to clear the ball. The spectators now urged the home side to push for the equaliser, but Germany would seal the match in the third minute of injury time when substitute Mario Goetze played the ball into the middle but Mario Gomez' shot was first blocked with another substitute in Andre Schürrle scoring with a placed shot of the rebound.


GERMANY

1-Manuel Neuer; 21-Benedikt Höwedes, 5-Mats Hummels, 14-Holger Badstuber, 4-Dennis Aogo; 16-Philipp Lahm [C], 18-Toni Kroos (81' 19-Mario Götze); 13-Thomas Müller (88' 20-Lewis Holtby), 8-Mesut Özil, 10-Luks Podolski (76' 9-Andre Schürrle); 23-Mario Gomez

Berti Vogts attacked at press conference?

German Berti Vogts is currently the national coach of the Azerbaijan national football team and on Sunday something weird happened around a press conference ahead of the 2012 European Championship qualifiers against Germany later today.

Berti Vogts told German sports agency SID, "I have experienced many things but nothing like that. I do not have the words to describe this."

What had happened? Initial reports said that Vogts had been attacked by three men at the press conference, while later on the story didn't sound so dangerous as news out of Baku was that journalists had thrown toilet paper on their coach in protest against his teams recent performances.

Last October Azerbaijan had beaten Turkey in one of their biggest football wins, but on Friday they lost 1-2 against bottom placed Kazakhstan and the media are questioning the coaches ability to lead their nations especially with a match against Germany tonight.

In the first-leg match in Cologne in September 2010 Azerbaijan had lost 1-6 against Germany, who have so far won all their six qualification matches.