Georgia, a surprise qualifier for the round of 16 of Euro 2024, “will fight until the last minute”, said its French coach, Willy Sagnol, after the 2-0 victory against Portugal at the end of the first round.
This is one of the great stories of this group stage of Euro 2024. 74th nation in the world in the Fifa ranking, Georgia is qualified for the round of 16 of the competition after having notably beaten Portugal this Wednesday evening (2 -0). The Georgians will face Spain in the round of 16 next Sunday at 9 p.m.
“When you’re one of the ‘small’ teams, you know you have nothing to lose. The only thing I said before the competition is that no matter what happens, you don’t have to not have regrets at the end”, proclaimed Willy Sagnol, the French coach of Georgia, in a post-match conference.
As an outsider, he continued, “you have no weight on your shoulders. It’s hard when you are France, England, Spain, Portugal, you are under pressure because people expect you to win. What we wanted to do is make Georgia proud and I think that’s what we did.”
In the round of 16 for his first participation in the Euro
For its first international competition, Georgia finished among the four best third-placed groups at the Euro, with a defeat to start (3-1 against Turkey), then a draw (1-1 against the Czech Republic) and a resounding victory against Portugal, 2016 European champion and already qualified for the eighth.
Sagnol doesn’t “really remember” his pre-match speech. “But I think my message was: ‘Play your football, stay disciplined, when you have the ball, just play.’ To some players, I even said ‘Remember, when you were 16, 17, 18 years old, you played without pressure.’ I think they did it brilliantly, beyond all expectations.”
Behind the stars Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze, the Georgia team is made up of players playing mainly in second-tier clubs or championships.
“Our bench is perhaps not the most exciting, but in terms of human quality, the quality of the group, I am very happy,” concluded the former Blues and Bayern Munich full-back, named in February 2021 at the head of Georgia.
“We take things as they come,” he commented. Spain is “probably the strongest team in the first round”, but “what is certain is that we will fight until the last minute”.
