By Sam Tobin
DORTMUND, Germany (Reuters) – Georgia are ready to move on from the fevered celebrations over qualifying for their first major tournament to show they can compete when they play Turkey in the European Championship debut on Tuesday, coach Willy Sagnol said.
Their Euro 2024 qualification, sealed with a shooutout victory over Greece in March, prompted wild celebrations across Georgia — and captain Guram Kashia said he nearly passed out from happiness in the aftermath.
They face a stern test in Group F, however, beginning with a strong Turkey side, and Sagnol warned that Georgia must get past the euphoria of qualifying after three decades of trying if they are not to suffer a rude awakening in Dortmund.
“For some of the players after the March playoff, it has been a bit difficult for them to go back in their daily routine because they still had a lot of emotions and they had the feeling they were maybe living a dream,” the Frenchman said on Monday.
Sagnol said the dream had to stop at some point.
“We have to leave these good feelings and emotions that we had from the night we qualified because to still celebrate that moment is not right,” he said.
“It is not party time or a celebration moment for us. We want to show that we deserve to be here.”
But Sagnol, no stranger to the big occasion after a career at the top level of European football with France and Bayern Munich, still wants Georgia’s fans to believe the side can do great things.
“Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to make people see reality but if they dream then they should keep dreaming because their dreams are a massive support for our players,” he said.
Kashia said he and his team mates were well aware of the Georgia fans’ fervent support, not least after one of them drove 4,000 kilometres to deliver a Georgian flag to their training base.
“Some of my friends sacrificed their monthly income and their salary to pay for the tickets to come to this match,” he said.
“Georgian fans love football and they appreciate the game very much. We have been waiting to play in a big tournament for 30 years and at last it is happening.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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