Azerbaijan maintain forward motion

Azerbaijan 2-0 Uzbekistan

Aliyev on target
The Azeris dominated tonight's match from the outset and should have taken the lead well before the first goal finally came in the 40th minute. Samir Aliev, who plays his club football in Ukraine with FC Volyn Lutsk, opened the scoring for the home side after skipping past a two of defenders and scoring with a neat finish from 12 metres.

Ismaylov the hero
Having drawn 1-1 with Iran on 11 August, Azerbaijan once again found a balance between resilience and class but had to wait until ten minutes from full time to extend their advantage. Farrukh Ismailov proved to be the match-winner when he found the net after latching on to a fine headed pass from Emin Guliev.

'Will to win'
Azerbaijan head coach Vagif Sadigov was happy with the result but admitted his side should have made more of their multitude of scoring chances. "I acknowledge my team's will to win," he said. "But I have to admit that we have to work a lot harder. I'm upset with the low percentage with which we realised our goalscoring opportunities. Also I would like to pay tribute to Russia-based Dmitriy Kramarenko, Emin Agaev and Dmitri Kramarenko, who played well today."

Tough draw
The victory will be a major boost for the Azeri team as they prepare for the forthcoming EURO 2004™ qualifying campaign. Azerbaijan have been drawn in Group 9 alongside Finland, Italy, Wales and Yugoslavia.