If Georgia’s stay in Germany does end against Portugal in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday, oh what a blast they have had. Episode two of Georgia’s first European Championship was much like their first, an almighty ball: loud, fraught, dogged and occasionally ridiculous, a Royal Rumble of sorts as they and the Czech Republic tried to earn a priceless win in pursuit of the last 16. Georgia have recorded a historic first point on this biggest of stages but it could have been so much more, with the substitute Saba Lobzhanidze guilty of missing a dream-like chance to clinch victory with the last kick.
It was the moment of the match in a game that had plenty. There were 94 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock, 15 seconds of allocated added time to run, when Georgia poured forward on the counterattack after the Czechs got carried away, committing numbers in search of a winner. Suddenly – inconceivably – Georgia were 3 v 1 against the Czech centre-half Robin Hranac. Giorgi Chakvetadze, another substitute, stormed forward, galloping about 50 yards before spying Lobzhanidze to his right. Lobzhanidze took the shot first time but spooned his effort over. The substitutes anticipating ecstasy on the touchline collapsed in disbelief. Those in Georgian red crashed to the turf.
How do you console the inconsolable? It was a question whirring in the mind of Willy Sagnol, the Georgia manager, who instantly made a beeline for a distraught Lobzhanidze at the final whistle. As a philosophical Sagnol said, it may take a few days to raise his player’s spirits. “You can say a lot of things but I don’t know if the player wants to hear all of these things,” he said. “There were some mixed feelings after the match in the dressing room. Initially I think the players were disappointed because of the opportunity they had [to win] but I hope they quickly remember they got their first point at a European Championship.”
In the end the actual goals, while celebrated lawlessly at the time, almost felt like footnotes. Georges Mikautadze scored from the penalty spot to register his second goal of the tournament but in the second half Patrik Schick, who was forced off with a calf problem, levelled fortuitously, the ball bouncing in off his chest after Ondrej Lingr’s header cannoned against a post.
For Sagnol, an agonising crescendo – strangely – stirred happy memories. It was here in 2001 where he won his first Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, courtesy of a 94th-minute equaliser by Patrik Andersson. “Twenty-three years ago was the first time I became German champion with Bayern Munich in the last minute of this stadium … today in the last minute it was something different,” the Frenchman said. “I don’t think I want to come back here. It’s too tiring,” he said with a smile.
In many ways, a preposterous finish was what a frenetic game warranted. The Czechs registered 12 shots on goal but 11 were saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, the undoubted man of the match. By the time the fourth official signalled at least two minutes of first-half stoppage time, all those present could be forgiven for needing to come up for air. It had been a breathless contest from the moment the teams swapped ends at the coin toss, Mamardashvili revving up the supporters behind his goal. The message staring back at him was clear. “Believe,” read the banner draped over the hoardings in the top tier.
Three minutes in, he made a fine double save, repelling Adam Hlozek’s shot with his left boot, then pawing Schick’s deflected effort clear either side of Ladislav Krejci’s overhead kick being headed away by a panicked Solomon Kvirkvelia. It was a slapstick few seconds and a flavour of things to come.
When Khvicha Kvaratskhelia flighted in a free-kick from wide on the right with the interval looming, the Czechs presumably thought they were one clearance from the half-time whistle. But moments later grown adults embraced, in tears, at the award of a Georgia penalty, after the VAR spied Hranac’s extended right arm. Mikautadze had not even sent Stanek the wrong way from 12 yards at that point.
Hranac tried to move his hand away from the ball but the verdict was it was in an unnatural position as the ball flew towards Georgia’s captain, Guram Kashia, who killed it with a sublime first touch and forced Jindrich Stanek into a smart save. Mikautadze stood hands on hips, took a couple of deep breaths and then sparked bedlam. A beaming Kashia hoisted Mikautadze off the floor and patted him incessantly. Such was the flow of this game, seconds later Kashia was jumping into the arms of Mamardashvili after his goalkeeper made an outstanding save low to his right to frustrate Schick.
Eventually the Czechs found a way past Mamardashvili, Schick the beneficiary of a slice of fortune. This proved a glorious reminder of how we will miss these safe zones of wall-to-wall action, this the final day of three back-to-back matches at this competition. The Czech head coach, Ivan Hasek, predicted this would be anything but a wild game. How wrong he was. “We had 26 shots at goal, we scored only one and we almost lost, but that’s football,” he said.
