The Georgian national team failed to pull off a surprise coup in the round of 16 match against the Spanish, who had played their way into the status of the tournament’s big favorites during the group phase. But coach Luis de la Fuente’s team has already lost some of its terror during the long, laborious 4-1 victory against the underdog from the Black Sea, which was anything but a relaxed European Championship Sunday stroll.
The game analysts of national coach Julian Nagelsmann were able to gather some good visual material in Cologne about the Spaniards’ vulnerability to counterattacks for the quarter-final duel between the DFB team on Friday (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship and on ARD). And the passing artists from southwest Europe are not particularly efficient in front of goal. Only at the very end, when the Georgians knew that their wonderful journey through this tournament was coming to an end, did their resistance break – and the result was clear.
The victory was undoubtedly deserved, Spain were the better team, especially at the beginning and in the final phase. After a quarter of an hour, the statisticians had recorded a spectacular 90 percent possession share, while the Georgians had played just 19 passes. Everything pointed to a very clear affair, and the Spaniards also scored, albeit into their own goal. The first Georgian attack down the right ended with a sharp ball into the penalty area by Otar Kababadze, which bounced off the torso of defender Robin Le Normand and over the line (18th minute).
It was an effective goal that revealed that the Spanish may have the best players, as de la Fuente said after the win against Italy, but the 2010 world champions are hardly the most mentally stable team in the tournament. They suddenly showed an astonishing vulnerability to quick counterattacks, and creating clear chances had not always been easy for the Spanish in their dominant group matches. And now de la Fuente had also nominated a kind of B team in the third group match, when nothing was at stake for his team, which also entailed a certain risk.
In order to display external content, your revocable consent is required. Personal data may be processed by third-party platforms (possibly USA). More information .
Enable external content
It would not have been the first time that a tournament team lost its rhythm after such a measure. The team from the Italy match played again in the round of 16, and even after falling behind they remained superior and had a lot of possession. The Spaniards were thwarted several times by the once again strong Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, but finally got a deserved equaliser when Rodri finally found a gap and scored the 1:1 from the edge of the penalty area (39′).
It was probably no coincidence that the experienced captain stepped into the picture in this situation, because the recently celebrated young stars Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were not as influential in this phase of the deficit as they had been in the group matches. Yamal was hardly seen before the break, Williams had his moments, but they were fruitless. The vulnerability to counterattacks is generally a weakness of this team.
Georgia dangerous even after falling behind
Shortly after the break, Chwitscha Kwarazchelia had the good idea of simply shooting at the Spanish goal from 50 meters after winning the ball because goalkeeper Unai Simon was standing far in the field. But the ball went just wide of the goal. And even when the Spanish took the lead after a cross from the ever-improving Yamal, which Fabian headed into the goal to make it 2-1 (51st minute), the Georgians remained dangerous with quick attacks, but they did not finish them with the necessary calm. The Georgians’ will to assert themselves was only broken when Williams finished off a great run with a shot under the crossbar to make it 3-1 (75th minute), after which Dani Olmo made it 4-1 (83rd minute).
“Everything went very well, we are very happy that we are in the quarter-finals. We have to keep going like this. We made this mistake, an own goal, but we recovered well,” explained goalscorer Williams, who added with a view to the match against Germany: “It will definitely be a difficult game. But we have to concentrate on ourselves, we have a wonderful team.” And Leipzig Bundesliga professional Dani Olmo said after the round of 16: “It is very exciting to play against the home team. It will be a very special challenge for me.”
The Georgian miracle has not happened and coach Willy Sagnol’s team must return home. The players will, however, be welcomed as heroes in Tbilisi, where people have experienced a remarkable European Championship summer. Reaching the round of 16 was already a small sensation and now they are dreaming of further adventures on the international stage. Even before the tournament, association head Levan Kobiashvili had said that their next big goal is to take part in a World Cup. After the impressions from this European Championship, this is anything but a utopia.
