Azerbaijan seek home help against Germany
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
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Azerbaijan can only hope their second UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying home game will produce as big a result as their first as they welcome Group A leaders Germany to Baku.
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Azerbaijan can only hope their second UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying home game will produce as big a result as their first as Group A leaders Germany come to Baku.
• Berti Vogts' side opened their Group A account in dramatic style after two away defeats, beating Turkey 1-0 in Baku thanks to Rashad F. Sadygov's 38th-minute strike.
• Vogts endured a miserable return to Germany in his team's opening Group A game on 7 September, as they lost 6-1 to Germany in Cologne.
• Heiko Westermann and Lukas Podolski scored before Miroslav Klose made it 3-0 in first-half added time. After own goal by Rashad F. Sadygov, Vagif Dzhavadov struck at the other end for Azerbaijan but Holger Badstuber and Klose scored again before the end.
• Azerbaijan have lost all three of their meetings with Germany, though they have now at least scored against their opponents; something they failed to do in their first two encounters.
• Joachim Löw's charges secured a 2-0 success in the teams' first encounter in Baku on 12 August 2009, when Bastian Schweinsteiger and Klose made the difference either side of the interval.
• Klose then plundered two more goals in the return match in Hanover on 9 September the same year, when Michael Ballack, with a penalty, and Podolski also struck in a 4-0 triumph for Germany.
• Klose has thus scored in all three of Germany's games against Azerbaijan.
• Capped 96 times by West Germany, Vogts coached the reunited Germany from 1990-98, overseeing their triumph at EURO '96. He has since led the Kuwait, Scotland and Nigeria national teams.
• Former defender Vogts has not won in three games against his home country; his Scotland side drew 1-1 at home and lost 2-1 away against Germany in UEFA EURO 2004 qualifying.