“It was a tough match. Especially the first half was difficult for us. But after the goal I scored just before halftime, the team started playing with more confidence.”

Offsideplus.az reports that these words were said by Ömer Kosayev, a forward for the Azerbaijan U-16 national football team, in a statement to AFFA’s press service regarding yesterday’s friendly match against Belarus (2:1).

He emphasized the key role of the head coach in securing the victory:
“We managed to win the match by implementing the instructions of our head coach Aqil Nabiyev on the pitch. Coach Aqil played a big part in this victory. Both his tactical decisions and motivational talks with the team gave us extra energy. As a result, we achieved a confident win. Before the match, we had analyzed the Belarus goalkeeper. We knew he only uses his right foot. In the goal-scoring moment, when I saw him switching the ball to his left foot, I rushed at him, won the ball, and scored.”

Ö. Kosayev also shared his thoughts on the second friendly match against Belarus U-16, which will take place on May 11:
“Our second match against Belarus will also be tough. We’ll try to replicate our performance from the first game. I hope we can win that match as well.”