Azerbaijan announce friendlies

Azerbaijan will play Albania on March 26 or 27, the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) have announced.
 
Malta trip
The teams last met on 10 February, 2000, Albania winning 1-0. Azerbaijan will then travel on to face Malta on 17 April.

Need tough opposition
Kazbek Tuyaev, the new Azeri national team coach, is so far sticking to his promise to play a European side once a month to enable his squad to learn from tough opposition. "We travelled to Sofia, we will travel to Tirana and Malta. Every game at this level is of much use to us," Tuayev said.
 
Albania cause problems
He had words of praise for his opponents as well. "The Albanian team are a good European side," he said, "they have proved they can be a problem for any opponents."

Squad stable
Tuayev also promised few surpises in the Azeri squad, which will be announced later in March: "I am going to make changes, but I`m going to keep them to myself for the moment. It is likely the new faces will appear, though. We have to play every month. Otherwise we will not be able to become competitive."

Tough group
His team have a tough EURO 2004™ group containing Italy, Yugoslavia, Finland and Wales.