- Ireland’s history v Georgia
GEORGIA MAY NOT not have a host of high-profile players within their ranks, but some of their team should be more than a little familiar to the established members of the Boys in Green’s squad.
After forming following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Georgian team competed in every major tournament qualification campaign from Euro ’96 onwards.
Although they only played Ireland for the first time in 2003, Thursday’s meeting between the teams will be the eighth fixture in total between the sides in the past 13 years, and the seventh competitive clash.
Ireland may boast a 100% record against the Georgians, but apart from the 4-0 2013 friendly victory, the wins haven’t come easily. Five of the six competitive successes have been by a single goal, with the exception being the 2-0 victory by a Brian Kerr-managed Ireland side in the Euro 2004 qualifiers.
Moreover, Ireland have gotten out of jail courtesy of some late drama on a couple of occasions. In Kerr’s first competitive game as manager, an 85th-minute Gary Doherty goal silenced a hostile Georgian crowd after Levan Kobiashvili had cancelled out Damien Duff’s opener.
The 2009 encounter at Croke Park was similarly nerve-ridden, with the Georgians leading the match for more than 70 minutes, before a late brace from Robbie Keane rescued Ireland.
It took another brace, this time from Aiden McGeady, to earn Ireland three points in the last qualification campaign, with the winger scoring a spectacular goal in the dying seconds to secure a dramatic away win for Martin O’Neill’s men.
The last meeting between the sides was also extremely tense at times. After a frustrating 68 minutes at the Aviva Stadium, Jon Walters was on hand to guide home Jeff Hendrick’s cross and set Ireland up for a much-needed victory.
On a sidenote, Kerr isn’t the only Irish manager to make his coaching debut against Georgia. Indeed, post-2000, Steve Staunton is the only Irish manager not to have made his competitive bow against Georgia.
- How good are the current Georgian side?
While Ireland have traditionally been too good for the Georgians, Thursday’s match could be the closest yet.
Vladimír Weiss’ side have earned a couple of eye-catching results since their last meeting with Ireland back in September 2015. Since then, they have narrowly lost by one-goal margins to Germany and Austria, as well as pulling off a shock 1-0 away win over Spain (albeit in a friendly). Moreover, their defeat of Scotland in the last campaign — which ultimately helped pave the way for Ireland’s Euro 2016 qualification — serves as further warning that the Irish team can hardly afford to go into tomorrow’s match with any sense of complacency.
Also noteworthy is the fact that, in contrast with Ireland’s relatively experienced group, Georgia have a very young squad. Aside from four 30-year-olds — goalkeeper Giorgi Loria (Krylia Sovetov), defenders Zourab Tsiskaridze (Teplice) and Giorgi Navalovski (Veria), and striker Vladimer Dvalishvili (Dinamo Tbilisi) — the remainder of the contingent are all in their 20s, with 14 members of the current 25-man squad under the age of 25.
By contrast, seven members of Ireland’s squad are in their 30s, and that number would be even higher were it not for recent withdrawals.
Georgia’s best player is arguably Spartak Moscow’s Jano Ananidze. Though the 23-year-old’s career hasn’t quite taken off as expected since the days when, as a 17-year-old, he was linked with Arsenal and Liverpool, the attacking midfielder remains an undoubted talent.
Ananidze has enjoyed a more-than-decent start to the season in Russia, scoring four goals in six games, while he was also on target in his country’s 2-1 loss to Austria last month.
Elsewhere, with 98 caps between them, defenders Ucha Lobjanidze (Dinamo Tbilisi) and Guram Kashia (Vitesse) — by far the most experienced players in the squad — are clearly highly valued parts of the set-up.
- Do the Georgians have any chance on Thursday?
Logic would suggest an Ireland win at the Aviva tomorrow. In the six competitive home matches since O’Neill’s tenure began, Ireland are unbeaten, winning four and drawing two.
The world rankings also suggest a considerable discrepancy in quality — Ireland are 31st, while Georgia are 137th.
As mentioned above, history also points to an Irish victory, although the abundance of one-goal margins and the recent signs of a Georgian improvement indicate the game may well be closer than ever.
The historically poor qualification record of Georgia will give Ireland further cause for optimism — the country with an estimated population of just under four million have seldom looked capable of bettering their extremely encouraging Euro ’96 debut qualifying campaign, in which they finished third behind eventual winners Germany and a Bulgaria team coming off the back of a fourth-place finish in the 1994 World Cup.
Georgia will, however, go into the game optimistic that a draw at least is achievable, given how close they have come before and the confidence their new coach has seemingly instilled, though Ireland will be similarly upbeat on account of their excellent home record.
Moreover, particularly following a draw last month against a Serbia side without two of their best players, Martin O’Neill will surely feel three points is essential on Thursday at home to the sixth seeds. Anything other than a win and qualification will start to look improbable in a group where no more than two teams will be granted entry to the World Cup finals in Russia next year.
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