You only have to look at their actual qualification record to see the extent of the hill that Georgia have to climb in order to make a go of their major tournament debut. They won just two of their eight qualification group matches, and both of those wins came against Cyprus, who lost all eight of theirs. They weren’t just pushed out of the top two in the group by Spain and Scotland; they finished fourth, behind Norway as well.
By Ian King
Qualification came about through the Nations League, in which they won a group also featuring Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Gibraltar while dropping just two points. This put them into the play-offs for the finals of this tournament, where they beat Luxembourg 2-0 in the semi-final before beating Greece on penalty kicks following a goalless draw in Tbilisi.
Türkiye remain the Jekyll and Hyde of European international football. The last time they qualified for a World Cup Finals – now more than twenty years ago, for those among us who want to feel old – they got to the semi-finals. They did the same at the Euros in 2008. But since then all they’ve managed to do is qualify twice for this tournament, failing on both occasions to get through the group stages. Last time round they lost all three matches, to Italy, Wales and Switzerland.
They’ve had bad luck with injuries. Bournemouth’s Enes Ünal is out injured for the tournament, as are the former-Leicester defender Çağlar Söyüncü and the former-Liverpool loanee Ozan Kabak. Türkiye arrived in Germany without a win in their last five games, including a 6-1 defeat to Austria and other defeats to Poland and Hungary, though it should also be added that their last result but one was a creditable goalless draw away to Italy. But in qualifying they finished a point ahead of Croatia and five clear of third-placed Wales.
By contrast, the only teams that Georgia beat in the whole of 2023 were Mongolia, Cyprus (twice) and Thailand. The only friendly match they’ve played this year was away to Montenegro, last week. They won this, but just one preparation match may leave them looking a little undercooked. But then Türkiye can be highly unpredictable. With four points all but guaranteeing progress to the next stage of the competition as a third-placed qualifier, both teams may well feel that they need to get off to a winning start.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from Euro 2024 live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.