Hello, I am the current manager of the Azerbaijan national team.

I am copying this from the national team forum in case anyone that hasn't checked that forum might be interested. I am going to write this in English since I do not speak Turkish, and translations from Google translate sometimes tend not to be very good.

I am going to go over the first half of the World Cup Qualifications and describe how I chose the team this time around. If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please send me a message.

Azerbaijan has a really strong team in its prime this season, including 8 9+ star players at the moment, at least one at defense, midfield, and offense. The average star value of the team is even over 9 stars, and there are 6 supertalents on the team. The defense is especially strong, possibly one of the best in the world, with 5 9+ star players to work with, and more very good defenders under 9 stars.

Azerbaijan's defense is world class on paper, and it has shown on the field. Azerbaijan has only given up 1 goal in four games (leading to the only loss against a strong Norwegian team).

The problem is that Azerbaijan has simply been unable to score with only 1 goal for so far. Azerbaijan has a lot of pretty good forwards, but only Mehpare Pashkevitch has elite scoring at 5.28 with selfish, and even that isn't quite world class. Other than Pashkevitch, only Shafaq has more than 5.1 base scoring. None of the top players have sharpshooting (or penalty specialist), though I don't think that has been the problem since the team isn't even scoring the first goal that would lead to the penalty. Even so, with the defense on this team, I think Pashkevitch can lead the team to victory.

I have Zubkov as the third string forward. The fourth and fifth forwards probably won't play in world cup qualifying games, so I replaced Suleymanov (low endurance) and Rustamanhli (5th string based on scoring/played 3 exhibitions) with Koprulu (fairly close to Rustamanhli) and Bagabzade (most promising prospect, though his scoring isn't quite up there with everyone else yet).

In goal, although Taghiyev has the best star value, Vurgun has much better blocking. Meshadi gets the third position (in case of injuries) since Babaev is downhearted and Mamedov has relatively low blocking.

On defense, Edip and Melifov (despite his low star value) are the best central defenders. Mariyev has great dueling/tactics/special attributes. Abilov has the best dueling I've seen in this game. Goroboin is another player with strong tactics and dueling. This doesn't even include the 9 star Tabrizi who can fill in for any position. Mahmudnizhad is really useful as a depth side defender due to his winger special attribute. I took Khorram over Chorakchi due to their relative age and Chorakchi's especially low endurance.

While the midfield is really strong, there is a lack of depth after the top players (even though the shortlist for this position is the largest). Players with playmaker get a serious bonus consideration. Mutalibov is a world class midfielder that can play DM, AM, or any side, in addition to playmaking, set pieces, and pretty good tactics for a midfielder. Kosari has great passing and playmaking and is approaching 10 stars. Ayoub has world class passing - good enough that he's better than most of the playmakers on the shortlist; with playmaking, he could be a monster. Recber Pup is another solid player with playmaking. Vurgun is the backup set pieces specialist in case of an injury to Mutalibov. The next midfielder on the roster is Chervinsky, one of the players with the next best passing (also a supertalent). There really aren't any elite DM specialists available, but I decided to add the best one available on the shortlist - Taghiyev, though it would probably make more sense to add another defender instead or just use Mutalibov as the DM.

Finally, I'll go over the results from the first half of the World Cup Qualification tournament. At the moment, Azerbaijan is in third place in the group and is the highest ranked team not currently in the playoffs. Azerbaijan definitely has the potential to advance to the World Cup and do some damage there (after all, it was only last season that Azerbaijan nearly won the European Championships); it just needs to start scoring some goals (it's not like Azerbiajan is frequently scoring 0 goals in the simulated matches).

Azerbaijan is the only team that hasn't lost to the surprise group leader, Liechtenstein so far. Azerbaijan outshot them 12-5, but couldn't manage to convert. The game ended at 0-0.

The game against Andorra was a defensive affair with only 4 shots by each team. The score was once again 0-0.

Against, Malta, Pashkevitch finally scored for Azerbaijan, winning the game 1-0. Shots were 15-8 in favor of Azerbaijan. Vurgun's clean sheet streak extended to 3 games.

Norway managed to get one past Vurgun on a corner kick for the only goal of the game. Azerbaijan outshot Norway 14-11.

Azerbaijan gave up an average of 7 shots per game. At that rate, I expect the defense to pull through. At about 11 shots for per game, Azerbaijan really should start to score at some point. After playing a challenging away game against Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan will play at home against Andorra, away against Malta (who they beat), and at home against Norway. The home advantage should help, and Azerbaijan should be able to win against Malta again away. Even away against Liechenstein, Azerbaijan should have a pretty good chance.

It would help the team to have more playmaking midfielders, sharpshooting forwards, corner stopping and man marking defenders, and penalty stopping keepers with setting walls. Maxing power for defenders and midfielders and speed for keepers and forwards would help as well. I can't really say what the next generation will look like since there is only one player on the shortlist below 22 (the current group should remain strong for at least 4 seasons or so), but it would really help if Azerbaijan could produce some world class forwards.

Once again, please send me a message if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions.

An update:

In game 5 of the World Cup qualifications, Azerbaijan gave Liechtenstein its first lost. Azerbaijan was also the only team to take points away from Liechtenstein in the first 4 games.

In the first game against Liechtenstein, I anticipated the lineup and avoided a matchup against their 10+ star defenders while putting all side defenders on the side I expected them to attack. Azerbaijan should have won that game but ended up with a tie. In the second game, Liechtenstein was better prepared, attacking down the center and moving the 10 star defenders to the center, though I still managed to mostly avoid that player by attacking down the opposite side.

Azerbaijan outshot Liechtenstein 19-12, and Shafaq managed to score a goal in the 88th minute on an assist by Ayoub. This was the second goal of the tournament for Azerbaijan, but also the second win. The goal given up against Norway is still the only goal Azerbaijan has given up so far. Star playmaker Kosari was lost to an injury halfway through the game.

In a few hours, Azerbaijan will play game 6 against Andorra. Andorra hasn't scored any goals yet, though they have been strong defensively.

Azerbaijan is in the only group with 5 teams, and 3/5 teams from each group at least make the playoffs. In other groups, wins against the last place team wouldn't count towards qualification. If the qualifications ended today, Azerbaiajan would qualify, but there is still a lot of work to do.

Azerbaijan outshot Andorra 20-4 and won 1-0 today on a goal by Mehpare Pashkevitch off of a corner kick.

With the win, Azerbaijan has clinched a top 3 spot in the group. Azerbaijan still needs to be first or second or be one of the top 4 third place teams. At the moment, Azerbaijan has a great record and looks like it should make the playoffs. With two more wins, a direct qualification might even still be possible.

The next game is against Malta (away) in two days. The final game will be at home against Norway.

Azerbaijan has officially clinched second place in the group and the playoffs with a win against Malta and a tie against Norway, ending with a 4-3-1 record.

Congrats Ulysses

I think we have qualified from group. And I want to ask that do you have any suggestion about training of my NT players?

Thanks! Hopefully Azerbaijan can win the 2 game playoff to advance to its first World Cup in rocking soccer.

As for your players:

I think the priorities would be playmaker for Ayoub and then long shots for Shafaq before the World Cup. Chervinskiy and Bagabzade will probably only see time in interland matches at this point unless there are injuries. Chorakchi will also probably see some time playing interland matches at some point.

1) Ayoub has such good passing that he's better than many of of the midfielders with playmaker, so he could be world class and the best on the team if he also had playmaking. It helps to have as many playmakers as possible due to the new penalty for players that make assists. Other than that, it wouldn't hurt to increase his power one more time if you have the opportunity at some point. The same goes for Chervinskiy as for Ayoub.

2) For forwards, I prefer to keep tactics at 2 or so and put most experience into scoring. With that said, if your forwards have better tactics than many of the defenders in your league at their current level, it probably does help (especially since forwards don't always shoot as quickly as they did in the past), but I would focus on scoring in the future since the best defenders on national teams can have tactics up to 4.5. I think a player with 5.3+ scoring and 5+ speed can be very effective at the national team level.

Other than that, I think long shots make forwards more effective from the side.

Sharpshooting is good, but having good backup forwards is just as effective.

Azerbaijan doesn't have a penalty specialist at the moment, but penalty specialist isn't the most important special attribute, and only one starter needs to have it. Pashkevitch would probably be a better candidate than Shafaq since Shafaq already has a few special attributes and has lower scoring.

Dribbler also helps.

Shielding seems like it should help, though I don't have much experience using shielding to say how effective it is.

Correct probably wouldn't hurt for Bagabzade, though I would save it for last.

The first game of the 2 game playoff against the Faroe Islands, an away game, takes place on 4/11. The second game will take place on 4/15. It will be a challenging but winnable matchup to officially qualify for the World Cup.

Good luck

I have special training for another non-NT player that ends tomorrow. And I will start long shoots for Shafaq and then playmaker for Ayoub.

Azerbaijan has officially advanced to its first World Cup in Rocking Soccer! I was worried after the 2-3 away loss in the first game (though scoring 2 away goals would have helped towards a tiebreaker), but Shafaq led the team to a 2-0 victory against the runner ups from the last World Cup. Vurgun was solid in goal and leads the entire tournament in clean sheets at this time.

Hopefully Azerbaijan ends up in a relatively weak group and can advance far into the tournament.

The World Cup starts in a week. Azerbaijan is in group 1 with Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, and Wales.

Saudi Arabia has the best keeper in the group. The weakest one is in Wales.

Paraguay has a relatively weak defense.

Pashkevitch is one of the top 2 forwards in the group.

It is going to be hard to advance, but Azerbaijan has a solid chance. I think Saudi Arabia is the favorite from the group.

I am undecided about returning for next season at the moment. If anyone is interested, I would be willing to add their player if necessary for them to run.

Second place will likely have to face Italy in the next round, so winning the group will be important for Azerbaijan's chance to advance deep into the tournament.

Azerbaijan has advanced to the next round and is one of the final 16 teams in the World Cup! After a very disappointing 2-1 loss against Paraguay, Azerbaijan managed to beat Wales 2-1 and then shut out the previously undefeated Saudi Arabia 1-0.

Unfortunately, I believe Azerbaijan will be facing Italy in the next round. I believe a win is possible, but it will be a difficult match. With a win, Azerbaijan could avenge its European Championships loss.

Ayoub, who had started the previous 2 games, was suspended against Saudi Arabia. Starting keeper Vurgun was injured in the match against Wales. Hopefully he will be back to play again.

Congrats Ulysses

Hope to Italy next round

Azerbaijan lost to Italy today and has been eliminated from the tournament. It was a really close game, tied at 0-0 until the last few minutes. Azerbaijan actually outshot Italy 13-4. Italy is one of the favorites to win the World Cup, so the result wasn't unexpected, but Azerbaijan at least came really close to an upset.

It didn't help that the starting goaltender (Vurgun) for Azerbaijan (though Taghiyev has better star value, Vurgun has much better blocking) was injured for today's game. Italy had a much better keeper, much better forwards, and 7 red star caliber players between their defense and midfield.

Italy uses the same formation in every game, so I thought I might be able to beat them with a good counter-formation. For today's game, I knew it was unreasonable to expect to score much against Italy, so I went with one forward (against stronger teams, excess forwards tend to have little effect). I focused on Italy's left side because Kosari had better tactics than Francheschi and put 2 midfielders there to pass to Pashkevitch. Though Ashurbeyli is otherwise sort of average, he has great tactics and is effective as a DM. Since Italy always attacks down the left, I left the other side empty and put 2 good defensemen on Azerbaijan's right side. I also put 4 defenders in the middle, including the 3 best center defensemen and Gorobin for his good tactics. The formation was really effective, but Italy's extreme advantage on offense and in net pulled through for Italy.

Due to other obligations, I've decided to take a break from managing national teams in Rocking Soccer. Good luck to the next manager and everyone else. Azerbaijan has a strong team that is still relatively young and will continue to be very competitive for at least the next 4 seasons.