This Sunday, at 9pm, Georgia will make history by playing its first knockout match, for its first participation in the Euro, against Spain. One man is the keystone: French coach Willy Sagnol, who has conquered the small country of 4 million inhabitants.
Some joke that Willy Sagnol will soon have his statue in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. We joke, but we are not far from it anyway. Because since he took over as coach of the “Crusaders” in February 2021, Georgia has continued to progress. Until this historic round of 16 against Spain.
“He is the creator of all this. He made this team very solid,” explains midfielder Otar Kiteishvili. “Internally, he is very good because everyone knows their role, how to prepare, how to train. He is the one who communicates very well with each player, he prepares us very well psychologically, we needed that. I am sure he will find the right words again against Spain.” Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili adds soberly: “He tells us to keep this level, continue to play and think about staying solid before attacking.”
“He made our dreams come true”
Because if he brought his tactical knowledge and his knowledge of the game, Willy Sagnol is also much praised for his human qualities. A Georgian journalist explained that the former Bayern Munich player had changed his vision of the French, whom he thought were haughty. The opposite of Willy Sagnol, simple and accessible. In the game, nothing transcendent but a recipe that works. “He improved things little by little, the state of mind, the fact of keeping a cool head, the mentality, details Irakli Imedadze, Georgian journalist. I sometimes questioned him on certain choices. But during the qualification for the Euro, we hugged each other. He is a very good manager”.
The former Bordeaux coach also benefits from a superb generation and essential elements: an exceptional goalkeeper and a Mikautadze–Kvaratskhelia attack which makes all the defenses in Europe tremble. “Some journalists and fans criticized him sometimes, but not me,” defends Amiran Shaishmelashvili, another journalist. In my opinion, after Vladimir Weiss (coach from 2016 to 2020), he started by continuing to develop the team. But for For me, he is the best coach in the history of our selection even if he had some controversial decisions. He chose some players over others but when the results are there, most people are right! love him because he made our dreams come true.”
A medium-term project
The credit that goes to him is perhaps, above all, that of having accepted this rather crazy challenge at the end of the pandemic, when Georgia was despairing of not experiencing major international competitions. “I think that I am one of those people who were led to reflect during this crisis, on our desires, our priorities, all these things. And let’s say that the speech of the Georgian leaders marked me, explained Willy Sagnol on RMC. Their human, realistic project spoke to me more than other, slightly more complicated projects.”
A medium-term project, too, which allowed Sagnol to get to know his group well and to spend long periods of time in the country. The ex-coach of Bordeaux or the French youth team savors these moments: “It’s enormous, incommensurate with what I was able to experience as a player. “When you are a player, you are always in the action, you are young, you feel like you have your whole life ahead of you. When you’re a coach, it means you’re a little older, you have more experience and maybe you take more time to appreciate the good things. This is what I’m going through right now.”
