India vs Azerbaijan: Friendly - 27.02.2012, Dubai

Admin · February 2012

In preparation for the forthcoming AFC Challenge Cup to be held in Kathmandu from March 8, 2012, the All India Football Federation confirms the following two away International Friendlies for Team India.

1. India vs Oman in Muscat on February 23, 2012.

2. India vs Azerbaijan in Dubai on February 27, 2012.

Oman are presently ranked 90 in the current FIFA Rankings while Azerbaijan stay on on 111. India are currently ranked 158.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.the-aiff.com/pages/news/index.php?Me_Id=202"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.the-aiff.com/pages/news/index.php?Me_Id=202</a>

chetan · February 2012

Really good initiative by aiff. I think the performance of blue tigers against these two teams(oman and azebaijjan) will definitely provide an indicator on how far will India progress in AFC Challenge Cup.

One more thing I would like to mention here is that Palestine are also scheduled to play Azebaijan on 29th . So we will get an idea how good they are. North Korea might be favourites to win the tournament but i believe Palestine are the dark horses.

They played good football against Thailand in the world cup qualifiers and recently concluded Pan Arab Games where they finished creditable fourth. Yes they did loose badly to some of the teams(like 7-1 thrashing at the hands of IRAN) in 2011 but they have been improving day by day.

Here are some of the important results:

23/07/2011 Thailand 1:0 Palestine
28/07/2011 Palestine 2:2 Thailand
06/12/2011 Bahrain 0:1 Palestine
14/12/2011 Palestine 1:1 Libya
17/12/2011 Sudan 0:2 Palestine
20/12/2011 Bahrain 3:1 Palestine
22/12/2011 Palestine 0:3 Kuwait(after extra time,it was 0-0 at full
time)

So match against Azerbaijan will be interesting. In my opinion India and Palestine could well be playing each other in the semi finals of AFC Challenge cup.

Common Blue Tigers...Best Of Luck!!

namewtheld · February 2012

Palestine is a fairly strong team all of a sudden. What a pity, we are stuck where we were 10 years ago!
But awesome 1st post Chetan! I didn't notice Azerbaijan were playing Palestine too. That would really be interesting <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/eusa/clap.gif" alt=":clap:" title="Clap" />
Welcome to the community!

Ronny · February 2012

"chetan&quot wrote:

Really good initiative by aiff. I think the performance of blue tigers against these two teams(oman and azebaijjan) will definitely provide an indicator on how far will India progress in AFC Challenge Cup.

One more thing I would like to mention here is that Palestine are also scheduled to play Azebaijan on 29th . So we will get an idea how good they are. North Korea might be favourites to win the tournament but i believe Palestine are the dark horses.

They played good football against Thailand in the world cup qualifiers and recently concluded Pan Arab Games where they finished creditable fourth. Yes they did loose badly to some of the teams(like 7-1 thrashing at the hands of IRAN) in 2011 but they have been improving day by day.

Here are some of the important results:

23/07/2011 Thailand 1:0 Palestine
28/07/2011 Palestine 2:2 Thailand
06/12/2011 Bahrain 0:1 Palestine
14/12/2011 Palestine 1:1 Libya
17/12/2011 Sudan 0:2 Palestine
20/12/2011 Bahrain 3:1 Palestine
22/12/2011 Palestine 0:3 Kuwait(after extra time,it was 0-0 at full
time)

So match against Azerbaijan will be interesting. In my opinion India and Palestine could well be playing each other in the semi finals of AFC Challenge cup.

Common Blue Tigers...Best Of Luck!!

Great first post Chetan and welcome to the forum!!
You are absolutely spot on..Azerbaijan is a fairly strong team and in the Eu <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/eusa/pray.gif" alt=":pray:" title="Pray" /> ro qualifiers have even beaten Turkey,drawn with Belgium!!!
Hats off to AIFF for arranging a friendly with a European team...AIFF seem to be getting better and better and the quality of opposition they have provided for the national team has been commendable...we are punching way above our weight and now need to give some noteworthy performances for the world to take notice of us.
Check out Azerbaijan here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_national_football_team

And Palestine is not a fairly strong team all of a sudden..they are more in the mould of Afghanistan and have even better European and South America based players representing them..infact in this AFC Challenge cup we have teams like Palestine,Phillipines trying to win on the strength of foreign based players..It makes me feel even more proud of my Indian team coz we fight with 11 Indians and not borrowed players <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/eusa/clap.gif" alt=":clap:" title="Clap" />

namewtheld · February 2012

You must be aware of the state of affairs in Palestine, Afghanistan etc. There's nothing for them to be ashamed of. In a war ravaged country, finding a shelter is luxurious enough. All these foreign based players are not like PIOs. They fled their country to save their lives you-know-why. They have trained in those facilities and have progressed. It is fairly similar to what we are doing now, sending kids to IMG in USA or training in Portugal/Dubai.

Ronny · February 2012

"somesh&quot wrote:

You must be aware of the state of affairs in Palestine, Afghanistan etc. There's nothing for them to be ashamed of. In a war ravaged country, finding a shelter is luxurious enough. All these foreign based players are not like PIOs. They fled their country to save their lives you-know-why. They have trained in those facilities and have progressed. It is fairly similar to what we are doing now, sending kids to IMG in USA or training in Portugal/Dubai.

very true but countries like Phillipines and Palestine to some extent are not doing justice to their local talents but are aggresively searching for foreign based players..most of these players also have multiple nationalities and are only half-origin players.
I would be super proud of my team if we can win the challenge cup by beating these foreign teams with our home bred desi boys <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/handgestures/thumbup.gif" alt=":handgestures-thumbup:" title="Thumb Up" />

Arsenalkid700 · February 2012

"Ronny&quot wrote:

"somesh&quot wrote:

You must be aware of the state of affairs in Palestine, Afghanistan etc. There's nothing for them to be ashamed of. In a war ravaged country, finding a shelter is luxurious enough. All these foreign based players are not like PIOs. They fled their country to save their lives you-know-why. They have trained in those facilities and have progressed. It is fairly similar to what we are doing now, sending kids to IMG in USA or training in Portugal/Dubai.

very true but countries like Phillipines and Palestine to some extent are not doing justice to their local talents but are aggresively searching for foreign based players..most of these players also have multiple nationalities and are only half-origin players.
I would be super proud of my team if we can win the challenge cup by beating these foreign teams with our home bred desi boys <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/handgestures/thumbup.gif" alt=":handgestures-thumbup:" title="Thumb Up" />

Exactly. Who needs Michael Chopra. He would just lessen the playing time of guys like Jeje and Manandeep.

usaindia · February 2012

good to see different teams ,rather same middle east teams

rudra · February 2012

Bert Vogts is coach of Azerbaijan!!!! <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/handgestures/fingerscrossed.gif" alt=":handgestures-fingerscrossed:" title="Fingers Crossed" />

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berti_Vogts"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berti_Vogts</a>

rudra · February 2012

Axerbaijan's performance in Euro qualifiers -

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2012_qualifying_Group_A"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_ ... ng_Group_A</a>

Germany 6 - 1
Austria 3 -0
Turkey 0 - 1
Belgium 4 - 1
Kazakhastan 2 - 1
Germany 3 - 1
Belgium 1 - 1
Kazakhastan 2 - 3
Austria 4 - 1
Turkey 1 - 0

1 win against turkey, 1 draw against Belgium - looks like a tough team + have experience of playing high quality opponents in last few months

Arsenalkid700 · February 2012

"rudra&quot wrote:

Bert Vogts is coach of Azerbaijan!!!! <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/handgestures/fingerscrossed.gif" alt=":handgestures-fingerscrossed:" title="Fingers Crossed" />

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berti_Vogts"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berti_Vogts</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hes been crap with them though. 9 wins, 10 losses, and 23 losses. Obviously the Azerbaijan Fed thought that if they ONLY get a german coach then they would be a European superpower

India vs Azerbaijan: Friendly - 27.02.2012, Dubai

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