Bangkok Post – Newcomers Georgia cause historic shock by beating Portugal 2-0

GELSENKIRCHEN: Georgia staged the biggest upset in Euro history with a 2-0 win over Portugal on Wednesday to advance to the knockout stage of their first major tournament, thanks to an early goal from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and a penalty from Georges Mikautadze.

This victory, although against a largely secondary Portugal and already qualified for the next round, represents Georgia’s greatest result since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Played in front of tens of thousands of raucous Georgian fans, it was also the biggest shock based on the rankings that put the team ranked 74th in the world against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, ranked sixth and the 2016 European champions.

After finishing fourth in their qualifiers, Georgia had to take a circuitous route to Germany, first by winning their group in the less prestigious Euro Nations tournament and then beating Greece in the play-off.

But there was nothing undeserved about the way coach Willy Sagnol, the former Bayern Munich and France defender, and his team won third place in the tournament’s Group F and set up a meeting in the round of 16 with Spain, three-time winner of the Euro.

When these two teams met last September in the qualifying phase for the tournament in Germany, Spain beat Georgia 7-1 in Tbilisi, but Sagnol seemed unconcerned about the scale of the challenge ahead .

“When you are the smallest team in the competition… you know you have nothing to lose… You have no weight on your shoulders,” Sagnol told reporters. “Today I don’t have many words. I feel very proud to be their manager.”

Georgia’s victory also means England will face Slovakia, Romania will face the Netherlands and Portugal will face Slovenia in the round of 16. Hungary, which was in contention for a place in the next round, was eliminated.

In Wednesday’s other Group F match, Turkey booked their place in the last 16 with a 2-1 victory over 10-man Czech Republic, who now return home.

Tournament debutants Georgia took the lead after just 93 seconds when Kvaratskhelia raced away from a careless pass from Antonio Silva and powered a low shot past Diogo Costa into the Portugal goal.

“It’s the happiest day of my life,” said the Napoli winger. “We made history and no one believed we were going to beat Portugal. But we showed everyone that the Georgian team could do it.”

RONALDO CHAINED

Ronaldo – one of Portugal’s three starters who also started their 3-0 win over Turkey on Saturday – stretched and strained for every ball as he sought to become the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup tournament. ‘Euro at the age of 39.

But Georgia defended like their lives depended on it and looked to take Portugal on the counter. In the 53rd minute, Silva compounded his earlier error by committing a foul in the area which was awarded as a penalty after a VAR check.

Mikautadze, who had provided the pass for Kvaratskhelia to open the scoring early on, headed his spot-kick past Costa, making him the top scorer at Euro 2024 so far with three goals.

Ronaldo was booked in the first half for arguing and showed frustration when he was substituted after the break, kicking a water bottle. This is the first time in his long career that he has failed to score in the group stage of a major international tournament.

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said his team could not match the intensity of their opponents.

“We didn’t underestimate Georgia, but Georgia played the game in their history… and we were playing the last game when we were already at the top of the group,” he said.

Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili made late saves to keep Portugal at bay, and at full time the rest of the team and coaching staff sprinted onto the pitch to jump and dance in front of their fans.

The celebrations were fully deserved. Georgia came close to snatching a draw against Turkey, but lost 3-1 in their opening match and missed a great chance to beat the Czech Republic a few days later in a 1-1 draw, leaving them dangerously close to elimination – until Wednesday’s historic evening. in Gelsenkirchen.