A look at the FIFA rankings suggest that not much can go wrong tonight for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Co. Georgia are ranked 126th, behind Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and barely ahead of Aruba or the Maldives.
Levan Kobiashvili, former Bundesliga professional for SC Freiburg, FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC, expressed his concern about football in his home country ahead of their EURO qualifier against the World Champions today (18:00 CET) in Tbilisi. "We are behind Liechtenstein and level with Burundi in the FIFA rankings. This shows that we’re heading in the wrong direction," claimed the 37-year-old in an interview with kicker.
Third place unlikely prospect
Georgia's goal was to qualify for the EURO 2016 in France but finishing in third place of Group D has become "an unlikely prospect. The squad is talented, but not experienced enough."
One of the problems, according to Kobiashvili, is that none of Georgia's players are currently active in one of the top leagues and the level of quality in their domestic league is not high enough: "The decisive factor is that we lack professionalism. Something has to change. We have to go back to square one. There is no point in renovating the sixth floor, when your foundations aren’t in place. The people lack the belief that something can be accomplished."
Georgia currently sit in second-to-last place in Germany's Group D, with just three points from four games to their name. They won against Gibraltar (3-0), but lost all of their remaining fixtures against Ireland (1-2), Scotland (0-1) and Poland (0-4).
Toppmöller: "Georgia should not be underestimated"
Kobiashvili is hopeful that a trend from recent games will continue: "We've managed to present ourselves well against big teams in the past." He remembers a 1-0 victory against Croatia in 2011 and a goalless draw with France in 2013. But he was obviously also aware that "everything has to work out perfectly for us in our game of the year."
A look at the FIFA rankings suggest that not much can go wrong tonight for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Co. Georgia are ranked 126th, behind Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and barely ahead of Aruba or the Maldives.
Levan Kobiashvili, former Bundesliga professional for SC Freiburg, FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC, expressed his concern about football in his home country ahead of their EURO qualifier against the World Champions today (18:00 CET) in Tbilisi. "We are behind Liechtenstein and level with Burundi in the FIFA rankings. This shows that we’re heading in the wrong direction," claimed the 37-year-old in an interview with kicker.
Third place unlikely prospect
Georgia's goal was to qualify for the EURO 2016 in France but finishing in third place of Group D has become "an unlikely prospect. The squad is talented, but not experienced enough."
One of the problems, according to Kobiashvili, is that none of Georgia's players are currently active in one of the top leagues and the level of quality in their domestic league is not high enough: "The decisive factor is that we lack professionalism. Something has to change. We have to go back to square one. There is no point in renovating the sixth floor, when your foundations aren’t in place. The people lack the belief that something can be accomplished."
Georgia currently sit in second-to-last place in Germany's Group D, with just three points from four games to their name. They won against Gibraltar (3-0), but lost all of their remaining fixtures against Ireland (1-2), Scotland (0-1) and Poland (0-4).
Toppmöller: "Georgia should not be underestimated"
Kobiashvili is hopeful that a trend from recent games will continue: "We've managed to present ourselves well against big teams in the past." He remembers a 1-0 victory against Croatia in 2011 and a goalless draw with France in 2013. But he was obviously also aware that "everything has to work out perfectly for us in our game of the year."
Klaus Toppmöller, former national team coach in Georgia, thinks the underdogs do have a chance, however. "Georgia lack the fighting attitude and ability to win the majority of the challenges, but they can definitely play good football. They should not be underestimated," Toppmöller told Sky Sport News HD.
Georgia's current manager and former Eintracht Frankfurt player Kachaber Tschadadse appears to struggle injecting his side with confidence: "Most important is that the players don’t get scared – I've told them that a thousand times already." After all, Germany has lost and drawn games since winning the World Cup last summer. "A good result is possible, even against the World Champions," said Tschadadse. Even if you the 126th best team in the world.
