Azerbaijan round-up: Karabakh keep winning
Monday, June 2, 2003
Article summary
FK Karabakh-Azersun maintained their 100 per cent record to stay top of the Azerbaijani First Division.
Article body
FK Karabakh-Azersun maintained their 100 per cent record to stay top of the Azerbaijani First Division with a 3-0 victory over FK MOIK Baku.
Maximum points
Karabakh now top the table with nine points from three games and have 12 scored goals and conceded none in the process. Samir Musayev opened the scoring, before substitute Eldaniz Mamedov added two more goals to complete a convincing win.
Chasing pack
FK Khazar Sumgayit and FK Shafa also kept their winning streaks going with equally impressive victories, but trail Karabakh on goal difference. Sumgayit overcame FK Lokomotiv Imishli 4-1, while Shafa ran out 7-1 winners against FK Adliyye with 22-year-old striker Senan Gurbanov scoring a hat-trick.
Neftchi in charge
Elsewhere, title contenders FK Neftchi beat FK Umid 2-0, while FK Shahdag-Samur Gusar and FK Shamkir were both 4-0 victors, beating FK Bakili and FK Dinamo Baku respectively.
No draws
There were also two postponed matches replayed this week, with Bakili beating Lokomotiv 3-0 thanks to two goals from Yalchyn Bagirov and one from Tekhmuraz Rzayev. The other proposed match saw FK Kapaz's players opt not to face their FK Shamkir counterparts over financial disputes regarding salaries. Interestingly, there is yet to be a draw in first three rounds of fixtures of the new Azerbaijani season.
Farajzade signs
MOIK have signed three players in a bid to challenge for the first division title. The 19-year-old Akif Humbatov, 21-year-old Rajab Farajzade and 25-year-old Vasif Hagverdiev have all agreed to join MOIK, with Farajzade, who won the Azeri Futsal championship this year with FK Tribut, the most likely to break in to the first team.
Venue change
In other news, it has been decided that the forthcoming UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying match between Azerbaijan and Serbia and Montenegro on 11 June will be played at Shafa stadium in Baku, not at the Tofik Bakhramov Republic stadium in Baku. This will be a huge disappointment to the Azeri supporters as the Shafa stadium has a maximum capacity of only 8,000.
