Andorra keen to end goal drought
Sunday, September 7, 2014
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"Above all we want to score goals," said Andorra coach Koldo Álvarez as his side start their campaign against Wales hoping to score their first competitive goal in four years.
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Another qualifying campaign, another opportunity for Andorra, who are preparing for their opening UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier against Wales on Tuesday with clear ideas and objectives.
Chris Coleman's side may not be giants of international football, but they still have enough power to pose a sizeable obstacle for Koldo Álvarez's charges, who have never registered a point in EURO qualifying and last scored a goal in a competitive game on 7 September 2010 – in a 3-1 loss to the Republic of Ireland.
"This is a new opportunity for us to keep improving and to prove we are a competitive team," Álvarez told UEFA.com. "We have got several objectives, such as getting points on the board and demonstrating our competitiveness, but above all we want to score goals."
It goes without saying that Wales – boasting players such as Real Madrid CF winger Gareth Bale and Arsenal FC midfielder Aaron Ramsey – will expect to win in Andorra la Vella, and one thing worrying the home coach is the fact the Andorran Premier Division does not start until 21 September.
"It is clear there is a big difference between the number of league games the Wales players will have played compared with ours, so perhaps the match has not come at the best time for us," he said. Nonetheless, Andorra's players are still looking forward to coming up against Bale and Wales's English Premier League performers, as captain Oscar Sonejee explains.
"We are very motivated about facing a quality player like Bale, but we cannot forget that many of Wales's players play in the Premier League too. The truth is we really look forward to games like these. For a few days you go from being an amateur player to feeling like a professional, and that makes you believe in yourself and dream of achieving something great."
The fixture will be Sonejee's 98th for Andorra, the 38-year-old having first played for the principality in June 1997, though he is under no illusions about the mammoth task his team face in Group B, which also contains 2014 FIFA World Cup contenders Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The midfielder added: "We are in a very strong group, and you have to remember that finishing third also gives you the opportunity of playing in the European Championship, so every game is going to be like a final."