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“Bbut, I mean, it’s Portugal,” came the typically frank and measured response from Georgia manager Willy Sagnol. Minutes earlier such was the vertigo around the nation’s first point at a major tournament on Saturday he received a standing ovation when he entered the press conference room in Hamburg from journalists who follow the team. The same goes for Georgi Mamardashvili after his stunning goalkeeping performance.
However, talk soon turned to the game in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday night and it was a case of carefully dousing the flames of unfiltered excitement. The obvious thing to say at this point is Georgia won’t stop dreaming
Why would they? The country is bursting with pride. Sagnol has painted the reality of the task, the likelihood of them reaching the last 16, something close to mission impossible. Whatever the percentage of Georgia’s hopes falling short of expectations, they won’t back down.
“A lot of people didn’t believe we could qualify for European championship but we are here and we have to think we can beat Portugal and qualify for the next round,” said Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, their star striker.
“Even if we have a 1% chance, we’ll take it. We will try to add another page to our story. We will invest everything we have.”
If Georgia were enjoying a tough draw against the Czech Republic, then there will be carnage if they do the unthinkable. Georgia will pass if they beat Portugal.
At 74th in the FIFA rankings, Georgia are the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, but despite playing just 180 minutes of mostly low-rent football in Germany, no one has graced the finals more. They won many friends under Sanyol, who broadcasts the class. It has the strength of an experienced defense and a charming sense of the Wacky Races for their unpredictability and fearlessness in attack.
Can they cross the border? “People always want more, and it’s continuous, because now we’re here,” Sagnol says. “We will do our best to keep dreaming even harder.” Portugal is Portugal, it’s a fantastic team with many top, top players. We know it will be difficult, but if there is even a small chance to qualify, you can be sure that my players will do everything. We are very happy to be a part of it and have shown everyone that Georgia deserves to be here.”
One of Sagnol’s first tasks after leaving Hamburg was to lift Saba Lobyandise, whose stoppage-time miss denied Georgia a historic win. “When you know where you come from, you can’t be disappointed,” was Sagnol’s opinion at the time. He also admitted that the Czechs were more cohesive, the superior team on the day. The reality is that if Portugal, who are among the favorites and expected to make changes in preparation for the knockout phase, perform, they will send Georgia packing. And yet, Georgia is in a position that no one predicted.
“It’s a pretty big victory just to be here,” Sagnol says. “But before the race if you told me we could have qualified [for the last 16] in the last group game I would immediately sign the document.”
Kvaratskhelia is capable of the beautiful. Ten minutes into the Czech Republic match, he broke into the opposition half before slotting the ball over Tomasz Holles in the middle, a carefree skill that also got Vladimir Kouphal out of the game. Quaratzhelia shone in Serie A in his first season with Napoli and despite registering similar numbers last season, at times he looked like a player struggling to live up to his own revised standards. “I haven’t done the maximum I can do, but I will try to do it against Portugal to get a win,” said the 23-year-old.
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Sagnol is reluctant to create a David vs. Goliath narrative – “I don’t want to play the big one against the small one” – but there’s no disguising the scale of the event. There’s a picture of Watford midfielder Giorgi Chakvetadze watching Cristiano Ronaldo at the opening of Dinamo Tbilisi’s academy in 2013 and now he could face the Portuguese, who has played every minute so far. Kvaratskhelia plans to swap shirts with the Al-Nassr striker at the final whistle. Defender Solomon Quirkvelia has already battled him in the Saudi Professional League.
Georgia fans will enjoy the game win, lose or draw. “I think what helps us a lot is that we know we have absolutely nothing to lose,” said Sagnol, a World Cup runner-up with France in 2006.
“We came here knowing that our main goal was to gain experience. When you’re Georgia – and as much as I love Georgia – you can’t pretend you can win the European Championship. Maybe we won’t be champions, but we deserve to be a part of it.”
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