Wisła Put to the Sword by Qarabag
Updated: Mar 31, 2019
This is a match report of a football game I attended in Baku, Azerbaijan, between Wisła Krakow and FC Qarabag in the first round, second leg of the Europa Cup, Wed, Aug 16th, 2010. Venue: Tofiq Bahramov Arena. The arena is named after Tofiq Bahramov - the (in)famous 'Russian' linesman who awarded England's controversial goal in the 1966 World Cup Final against Germany - who was in fact not Russian, but Azeri - a native of Baku. A statue of him stands outside the stadium. Tickets were about $3 apiece - a real bargain in a country where prices are generally at a western European level. Football fans in Azerbaijan seem to have remained resolutely working class.
Balmy conditions
Baku, on a balmy night in August, is probably not the place where Wisła Krakow would have envisaged being dumped out of the Europa Cup (the erstwhile UEFA Cup), but at the first time of asking that's what happened last Thursday evening, by European minnows FC Qarabag. Coming into the match trailing 1-0 from the first leg, a match Wisła were fortunate not to have lost on home turf by an even wider margin, Wisła could have been under no illusions about the size of the task ahead, and they entered the 30,000 all-seater stadium to a chorus of boos, a partisan and very vocal home crowd making that task even harder. Combined with the humidity and heat – the match took place in the evening, but temperatures were still a sweaty 28 degrees – they had plenty of work to do if they were to progress to the second round.
Wisła rattled
They began the match looking determined, dominating possession and pressing forward for the opening 20 minutes, but they could only muster one tame shot across goal from Zurawski, which went out for a throw-in. Playing on the counter attack, Qarabag looked dangerous however, and on the half hour they got the breakthrough, as the tricky left winger Rauf Aliyev floated in a cross that was buried by Afran Ismayilov. Wisła were rattled, and they were suddenly struggling to get the ball out of their own half, realizing they needed to score three goals to win the tie. Within minutes they were two down, as this time Aliyev himself broke and thumped a left foot shot into the bottom corner.
Qarabag jubilant
Unbelievably for the home fans – who are rarely treated to a goal-fest by their defensive-minded team – a third arrived only two minutes later, almost as they were still celebrating the second. This time defender Rashad Sadikhov got on the score sheet with a shot from distance after some defensive blunders. At 3-0, 4-0 on aggregate, the tie was over, and the fans were jubilant coming up to the interval, setting off fire crackers, doing Mexican waves and generally enjoying their first major European scalp. Their team continued pressing forward, and they could have gone in at half-time four or five goals to the good – Krakow were shambolic by this stage. A flag was unfurled with the words "Armenians are busters (sic) and invaders", (a reference to the still unresolved Nagornno-Karrabach conflict with Armenia), but even the most partisan, politically-driven fans of this club were enjoying themselves at this stage. Chants of “Q-ar-a-bag” followed the Mexican waves around the C-shaped Olympic Stadium, a crumbling relic built in the time of Stalin.
Consolation
The second half was more subdued, but it was Qarabag who threatened to score again, going close twice through the impressive Aliyev, who was cutting Wisła to ribbons down the left flank. Against the run of play, Wisła got one back through Paweł Brozek on the hour, but they never threatened to get back into the tie, and their last minute second consolation goal, nodded in by Rafał Boguski, was greeted by silence and barely celebrated by the players. The fans were jubilant on the final whistle and for them the next test is a mouth-watering tie with Borrusia Dortmund. On this form, who would bet against them reaching the group stages of the competition, which would mark the most significant European progress in their history. What with the eyebrow-raising appointment of Tony Adams, England legend, to FC Gabala in northern Azerbaijan (the footballing equivalent of Siberia), as well as the national team appointing Bert Vogts manager, football in the country is going through somewhat of a boom, funded no doubt by oil money. For Wisła, a long plane ride home, and plenty of soul-searching; but then there's always the league...
For an interesting article on Tony Adams' short-lived and mostly ill-fated time in Azerbaijan, have a look here.
And for any Spurs fans, here's some gratuitous footage of Adams making a fool of himself dancing at an Azeri wedding.
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