FLASH
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Astrit Hafizi hopes that Albania will perform a miracle and qualify for the World Cup. But the famous former national team coach is aware that there are things that are not going well in the current situation of the red and black team.
In an interview given to "Sport News", Hafizi analyzed a situation that according to him is not optimal before the matches with England and Andorra, as most of the players are not being activated. In the conversation with moderator Trevisa Tufa, he emphasized that Albania presents a great paradox in this regard, as it leaves things to chance and manages to get results.
Believe in miracles, professor, do you really think we can qualify for the World Cup? Or would second place in this group, the play-off stage, be an achievement?
We all like miracles, but we have to come back to reality. Who wouldn't want our team to achieve such an achievement? We believe in this dream, it's something that all the people dream of. The sports part, the management part thinks differently, they have to be down to earth.
Is it impossible to take points from England at Wembley? Can we believe we can come away with a positive result?
In football, anything is possible, but this is more true for some teams that exist as a team, in the good sense of the word. They are teams that perform miracles, sometimes in different matches and championships. The miracle was Georgia's qualification for the European Championship for the first time. The proclamation of Greece as champion in 2004 was also a miracle.
Can we have a chance?
I think there are some things that don't convince you.
What should we do, professor?
We are at the same pace, group and approach. We need a change of leaders, coaches. We have not yet created a style of play. We continue at the same pace, we aim not to concede goals and not lose deeply. We have passed these phases. Continuing at these rates, it seems that we are where we were. I am not convinced by the way the players are assembled, the style of the players and the fact that the players are not known who they are. This leaves me with doubts.
Is it enough to defend for 90 minutes?
We will make a lot of mistakes, what we showed in the European Championship, we showed a lack of desire to take a step further in the game, to dare. We still have a sense of fear. We will leave everything to chance, I'm afraid. As has happened in some cases, that we have benefited at one point.
Can the match against England affect the challenge with Andorra? After all, the 3 points are an obligation to Andorra, not to England. Are these dilemmas in Silvinho's head?
I don't believe it. We will go with the fact that we know who England is. I think we need to introduce a different mentality, against the big teams. If we remember Balaj's goal against Portugal. We need to dare, even against England. It's up to the managers and staff to introduce this mentality to us.
What do you expect from players like Broja, do you think Silvinho will give him minutes? Can he challenge a rival like England?
Broja is one of the best we have. Whoever does not accept this, does not know about football. There are several reasons, such as injuries, non-commitment to the National Team, we have not used this player. Players like him are few. If we take Broja a few years ago, when we played in England with Reja, we took him and left him in the stands. He was unharmed, younger and more willing, he also played in England, he was not used at all. We come to the European Championship, we used him with Italy and in the other two games on the bench. Now he comes from a long injury, what will we get from him, when he does not have that orientation on the field? I do not know how we will use him, will we keep him for nothing, or will we keep him on the bench and put him in later. A player who comes from an injury cannot be put in immediately. We need him, but do not damage him again. This is putting him in prematurely, you can make a mistake. If a game revolves around a player, we will revolve around him when he is in shape.
Tell me a name, who do you think will be the man of these qualifiers, like Yasir Asani was during the "Euro 2024" qualifiers...
Very difficult to give such an opinion. Most of our players are not activated. Almost 75-80 percent do not play. Exclude Gjimshiti who is permanent, or Kumbulla. Or players who are in several categories, like Asani in Korea. The rest have left the game, like Ramadani, Bajrami, Asllani, sometimes he plays, sometimes he doesn't. For us they are key players. If you want an opinion, it's impossible to say. Strakosha has left the game. What I'm repeating, our biggest paradox is that we have a national team where 80 percent of the players do not play and we participate in competitions. Sometimes we get results and technically it is not explained.
Give me a prediction, how will the challenge with England and then with Andorra turn out?
The predictions are for the fans. For me it will be something very good, that we manage to play in a dignified manner. If we get this far, I would be satisfied. Considering that we have a Serbia that is eager and has experience, there are definitely difficulties here too. If we have teams like Andorra and Latvia, that we will get 6 points, it would still be something good. Let's not forget that in the Nations League, we showed weakness with some rivals, not of a high level. Anything happens in football.
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