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Shahin Diniyev says victory not gained by coincidence

29 March 2007 08:22 (UTC +04:00)

â€œWe could have lost to Finland. But I donâ€™t think we won by accident. It cannot be coincidence if the team struggles in the field 90 minutesâ€, stated Azerbaijan squad head coach Shahin Diniyev at the press conference after the Euro 2008 qualifying match against Finland.
He noted that the players had been in depression after 0-5 defeat by Poland last week.
â€œReporters donâ€™t like me. Instead, they hate me. Everybody found me guilty for the defeat by Poland. Everyone who considers himself Azerbaijani should support his team all time â€“ in victory and in defeat. But our press â€œhackedâ€ the squad after the match in Poland. You stroke a blow to the players before the match with Finland by criticizing them. Emin Imameliyev and Ilgar Gurbanov couldnâ€™t stop crying after it. It was hard for me to raise the spirit of team captain 35-year-old Aslan Kerimov. Letâ€™s keep mankindâ€, he underscored.
The coach stated that they had hard time after they were back from Warsaw.
â€œI didnâ€™t contact to anyone for four days. I didnâ€™t answer the phone calls either. Because I had really hard time during this periodâ€, he said.
Diniyev noted that one of the main reasons of defeat by Poland was early goals of the rival. He said the team had had a chance to win first qualifying encounter in Baku.
â€œOur squad played his best match in qualifyings in the encounter against Portugal. But we failed to gain achievements in matches against Portugal and Belgium though we had fighting spirit. We could have won Kazakhstan as well. But we had no fortune in that encounterâ€, he said. /APA-Sport/