Although the 26-year-old player’s father comes from Azerbaijan, which does indeed make Alijevas eligible for the Azeri national team, the point guard himself was quick to pop the expanding bubble, which had caused some havoc around.
The player, who recently signed a two-year deal with Budivelnyk Kiev, was cited in the Azeri media of saying that he ‘was angry about not being invited to the Lithuanian training camp’ and that ‘Lithuania will see what they lost’ if the player was to indeed choose to represent Azerbaijan.
There is some water behind the talks about Alijevas representing Azerbaijan, as the player himself admitted that he is considering such an option, but couldn’t believe about the words that the Azeri media had put into his mouth.
“It must have been an inexperienced journalist. I didn’t say that I wanted to play for the Azerbaijan, but I have considered it and it’s too early to make a call. However, I can’t get my head round some things that were written in the interview,” Alijevas tried to explain the situation.
Another thing that shocked the player was that he was quoted to have said that one of the reasons that the playmaker was left out of the preliminary roster was religious reasons, as Alijevas, unlike any other player from the Lithuanian squad, is a Muslim.
“I’m not angry at all for not being invited. It’s all a selection process and maybe I’m just not good enough for the national team yet,” Alijevas tried to correct the mistakes of the Azeri journalist.
Back in 2004 the player was already contacted by Rimas Kurtinaitis, who was the coach of Azerbaijan at that time, and discussed the possibility of representing the Asian country internationally. The talks broke down soon as Alijevas went on to play for Lithuania at youth level and even became a U21 World Champion in 2005.
However, after what now looks like a career highlight, Alijevas’ career didn’t turn out as the player had hoped and a short stint at Zalgiris was as close to a top level team that the point guard got. As the chances of representing Lithuania internationally became more and more distant to reality, the player is reconsidering representing the homeland of his father – Azerbaijan, where Alijevas could take on a major role in a country where people love their sheep more than basketball.
