Tue 24 November 2009 | 13:08 GMT Text size:

Berti Vogts

Berti Vogts says he has shaken hands on a deal to extend his contract as head coach of Azerbaijan's national football team.

"The new contract has not been signed yet," Vogts told the press service of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA). "But during the meeting with AFFA President Rovnag Abdullayev we reached a verbal agreement and shook on it which is more important than signed papers. We had no differences."

"I just asked for the opportunity to know more about the U-19 and U-21 teams," Vogts said. "One of my conditions was to enable the team to have not four to five days but more time to prepare for important matches, as we did before the games with Liechtenstein and Russia.

"Currently, I have one assistant, Olaf Janssen, and we are looking for a second - a young specialist working at one of the clubs. If we do not find a second assistant, I will continue working with one assistant."

Vogts said he thought Azerbaijan were the strongest team in the recent tournament in the United Arab Emirates even though they came third.

“I think we were the best,” Vogts said. "We played well in the first half in the semifinal with Iraq but our fitness faded in the second half and as a result we lost. But I want to repeat that we played the best football in the tournament.

"Last year our footballers played a great deal and learned a great deal. Perhaps, we relaxed after our success against Russia and the Czech Republic but I will not allow this. We have to get rid of such players."

Elmir Aliyev
News.Az