Azerbaijan - Gurban Gurbanov

Now that the balls are out of the bowls in Durban we know that Wales have been drawn into a group with Germany, Russia, Finland, Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan. As a review of draw I intend to cover one of these teams every couple of days.

So it begins with Azerbaijan, a very familiar side to the Welsh having been part of our qualifying group for both the World Cup in 2006 and most notably were part of Wales' group for qualification for Euro 2004.

A lot of people will tell you how Mark Hughes led his Welsh team of Premier League stars to the brink of Euro 2004 by finally developing a system that the side could work under and achieve results. An excellent 2-0 win in Helsinki and a wonderful 2-1 win against Italy in Cardiff were gained early in qualification. But it was far more complex than that.

You may never have heard of him but without Gurban Gurbanov Wales may never have even made the playoffs. Gurbanov is Azerbaijan's leading goalscorer of all time. His 12 goals in 65 appearances eclipse all other achievements by Azeri players (including both of his brothers who have also turned out for the national team) but from those 12 goals there are 3 that had great importance for the Welsh side.

His two goals in Serbia helped secure the Azerbaijanis an unlikely point and another goal in Azerbaijan's incredible 2-1 victory in Baku over the Serbs helped push the Serbians into third place and Wales into the coveted runners-up spot. To put the result into context Azerbaijan lost 6-1 to Serbia at home this year.

Azerbaijan 2 - 1 Serbia - Euro 2004 qualifying


Gurbanov has recently retired so there'll be no helping hand from him this time around but they certainly aren't a pushover, especially for a side like Wales who love to make things difficult for themselves.