Author: Alex Nanijanian

June 5 2022

Stephen Kenny's side will be low in confidence after a dreadful loss.

Joaquín Caparrós was smiling like a Cheshire cat as Armenian journalists clapped the manager into the press conference room.

And then he got down to the brass tacks of the matter.

“Football is only about the result, nothing more. We don’t have to argue about anything else,” said the former Sevilla boss after delivering one of Armenia’s greatest ever wins.

It’s hard to argue with him.

Possession may be nine tenths of the law, but Ireland owning 65% of the ball isn’t worth a jot when you struggle to lay a finger on opposition who were there for the taking.

The Republican Stadium in Yerevan was less than half full at kick-off, with about 6,000 or so turning up.

Revenge was in the air, sure, after their games with Ireland in 2010 and 2011. But confidence in delivering a result was low after a 9-0 thumping by Norway in their last game.

Yet the more that Ireland misfired, the more hope the hosts gained and by the closing stages there were considerably more fans inside the ground.

Word had spread around the neighbouring streets that Ireland were making a dog's dinner of things and that maybe, just maybe, this could be a historic night for the 92nd ranked team.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Ireland were on easy street just because Caoimhin Kellher had so little to do in goal.

Kenny prides his teams on attacking flair, but there was none of it on show here as the forward division flopped and wilted in the heat.

But as Seamus Coleman flagged before the game, the conditions cannot be used as an excuse and Ireland had enough of the ball to do more damage than they did.

All the effort in the final third was half baked at best. Nothing clean, and nothing even vaguely threatening.

“It’s not a game that we deserved to lose – you couldn’t say that on the balance of play or chances,” said Ireland boss Stephen Kenny.

“But we have lost and we only ourselves to blame and we’re disappointed."

Kenny continued: “For the last 25 minutes of the first half we were in control but we didn’t start the second half like we ended the first and were susceptible to counters.

“We watched Armenia’s last 20 games and they don’t usually play with five at the back. We found them difficult to break down and we only had half chances.”

There were shades of Ireland’s nightmare home defeat to Luxembourg about this performance, with Kenny’s team labouring despite bossing possession.

Kenny responded: “That was a long time ago and there were reasons for that. Tonight I accept the criticism and we didn’t unlock the door or create more clear cut chances.”

Troy Parrott was disappointing and Callum Robinson found the side netting before seeing another effort hooked out of the goalmouth, but the execution wasn't clean.

Ogbene can’t be faulted for effort but should have done better with a header before the break when completely unmarked in the box.

“I’m very disappointed with myself for not hitting the target that close,” he sighed. “If you create those chances you have to put them away otherwise you feel like this.”

Armenia already had a goal chalked off – late – for offside before Eduard Spertsyan unleashed a stunning strike from distance with 16 minutes to play.

And nobody can say they didn’t deserve it because they played with more composure and purpose on the break.

Ireland, on the other hand, continued to make heavy work of it and the introduction of in-form Michael Obafemi did little to aid the cause.

At the end, it was hit and hope with Ogbene peppering the box for Shane Duffy or John Egan to get a head on to it.

Both men did, but never with conviction.

It was all so desperate.

Kenny targeted top spot in the group before the draw was even made – and will need a run of impressive results now for it to happen.

Ogbene said: “It’s a big mountain to climb but we have seen teams do it before.

“We are capable of doing it but it has to start from Wednesday. We need to put points on the board on Wednesday if we are going to top the group like we say we want to.”

But the night belonged to Armenia.

Caparrós added: “I have to praise my players as Ireland are a very good team and a victory here against a team like that is very important for us.”

The pity is that it was handed to them on a plate.

The consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have created further incentives and necessities for closer bonds between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Today Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU) have become closer to each other more than ever,” Peter Michalko, the EU ambassador in Azerbaijan, stated in an event dedicated to Europe Day on May 12, in Baku. According to Lithuanian ambassador Egidijus Navikas, the relations between Azerbaijan and the EU intensified following the 2020 Second Karabakh War, as European companies are actively involved in reconstruction work in the territories liberated from the Armenian occupation and the EU is playing an influential mediating role in establishing peaceful relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—in particular, the regional political tensions; security threats and challenges, disruption of the traditional connectivity routes, and the energy crisis in Europe—have created further incentives and necessities for closer bonds between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The basis for these relations is multilayered and propitious. Azerbaijan has signed strategic partnership agreements with nine members of the EU and developed strong ties with many of them.

With a $15 billion annual trade turnover, the EU is Azerbaijan’s main trading partner, accounting for around 45 percent of the country’s total trade and amounting to two-thirds of the EU’s trade with the whole South Caucasus region. The EU is the major investor in the Azerbaijani economy, having invested up to $20 billion in different projects in Azerbaijan.

The South Caucasian republic supplies around 5 percent of the EU’s oil demand and exports gas to the European market since 2020. In December 2020, Azerbaijan began exporting gas to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a project worth $33 billion. Although the share of the Azerbaijani gas is less than 2 percent in the overall gas imports of the EU, this maintains strategic importance for some importers in Eastern Europe.

Amidst the European efforts to reduce gas dependency on Russia, Azerbaijan’s gas exports are seen as an alternative. For example, a ten-point plan to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas proposed by the International Energy Agency includes Azerbaijan as an alternative source in this context. The intensifying visits to Baku by European officials to explore the opportunities to increase Azerbaijani gas exports in recent weeks promise to deliver positive outcomes in the near future. Both sides are strongly interested in this cooperation.

Azerbaijan is also an important actor in Europe-Asia connectivity. Due to disruptions along the trans-Russia northern route following the Ukraine war, the Trans-Caspian International Transportation Route, also known as Middle Corridor, has gained momentum. Over the last few months, numerous international logistics companies have decided to expand their Europe-Asia operations through the Middle Corridor.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia are interested in developing this transportation route, whose potential is estimated at 10 million tones or 200,000 containers per year. The three countries plan to establish uniform tariffs for domestic shippers and improve and simplify the work of carriers in the corridor of the track. This will boost the transit role of the South Caucasus for Europe-Asia connectivity and serve as another encouraging factor for closer engagement of the EU with this region.

Against this background, the EU has started to play an active role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process in recent months. The leaders of the two South Caucasian republics met online on February 4, in-person on April 6, and on May 22 via the mediation of the European Council president Charles Michel. The sides have achieved some progress in this process, launched the preparatory work for a peace treaty, and agreed upon the establishment of an international commission on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani borders that have not been delimitated since the two countries regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, the representatives of the two South Caucasian republics have met exclusively via the mediation of the EU, while the only Russia-mediated meeting—that of the foreign ministers held on May 12—took place on the sidelines of another major event and brought about no novelty in the negotiations. This is the reason why Russia feels irritated, if not threatened, by “shameless attempts of Brussels to appropriate […] the agenda proposed last year by the OSCE [Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe] Minsk Group co-chairs (solving urgent humanitarian issues, [and the] preparation of a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan).

It is believed that one of the major reasons for Armenia’s recent reluctance to fulfil the commitments it has undertaken at the EU-mediated meetings (e.g., its refusal to meet with the Azerbaijani side on April 29 and on May 7-12 when the sides would create the delimitation commission in the agreed timeframe) is the pressure by Russia and the pro-Russian opposition groups. The fact that Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan made these moves following his April 19-20 Moscow visit, which came in contrast to his more constructive statements prior to this visit, substantiate these claims about the Russian intervention in the process. However, there is optimism in the region that the EU’s efforts to push for a breakthrough in the negotiations will deliver some results in the upcoming months.

All these developments encourage Azerbaijan and the EU to deepen their bilateral ties and open new chapters in their relationship. Hence, it is expected that the two sides will finalize their talks on a new framework agreement (that has been in negotiations since 2017) and sign it in the near future. According to President Ilham Aliyev, the process was delayed due to the pandemic-related restrictions and the 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He has, however, reiterated that more than 90 percent of the agreement is ready. “We have an agreement, but it was signed many years ago [in 1996]. The new agreement is very comprehensive. It incorporates the new realities after Second Karabakh War and will definitely address the new situation in the world,” he stated on April 29.

Dr. Vasif Huseynov is a senior advisor at the Center of Analysis of International Relations in Baku, Azerbaijan.

May 16 2022

Mehr News Agency. Iran