Georgia and the Czech Republic tied and in the tie they found a thread of life to anchor themselves to the hope of entering the round of 16 and a problem because they will have to win on the last day to reach the goal. The first will cross paths with Portugal, the second with Türkiye, so nothing will be easy for them. The draw came in a duel that both posed with the urgency of victory, especially the Czechs, who had already done the math and it was very clear to them: given that, as it is suspected, with three points the passage to the round is almost closed There are few better opportunities than adding them against Georgia, the only debutant in the championship, classified through the group stage of the Nations League. But the Czechs hit the bone. And they must have even felt lucky in the end because in the last play of the game Georgia had the victory in Lobjanidze’s boots, but the Atlanta United forward’s shoulder shook when he finished.
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Giorgi Mamardashvili, Lasha Dvali, Guram Kashia, Solomon Kverkvelia, Anzor Mekvabishvili, Otar Kakabadze, Giorgi Tsitaishvili, Giorgi Kochorashvili, Zuriko Davitashvili, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Georges Mikautadze, Giorgi Chakvetadze (Zuriko Davitashvili, min. 61), Luka Lochoshvi li (Giorgi Tsitaishvili, min. 61), Saba Lobjanidze (Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, min. 81), Giorgi Gvelesiani (Solomon Kverkvelia, min. 81) and Giorgi Kvilitaia (Georges Mikautadze, min. 87)
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Jindrich Stanek, Robin Hranác, Tomás Holes, Ladislav Krejcí, Vladimír Coufal, Lukás Provod, Tomás Soucek, David Jurásek, Patrik Schick, Václav Cerny, Adam Hlozek, Matej Jurásek (Václav Cerny, min. 54), Ondrej Lingr (Adam Hlozek, min. 54), Mojmír Chytil (Patrik Schick, min. 67), Antonín Barák (Lukás Provod, min. 80) and Petr Sevcík (David Jurásek, min. 80)
Goals
1-0 min. 48: Georges Mikautadze. 1-1 min. 58: Schick
Referee Daniel Siebert
Coufal (min. 17), Kashia (min. 35), Lukás Provod (min. 39), David Jurásek (min. 46), Tomas Holes (min. 52), Tomas Soucek (min. 80), Giorgi Gvelesiani (min. . 81), Anzor Mekvabishvili (min. 82), Giorgi Kochorashvili (min. 94)
The weight of the match fell to the Czechs. Not so much control. They started bossily and throughout the ninety minutes they subjected their hard-working and limited rival to different phases of siege, who barely began to stretch with the ball at their feet after half an hour of play. The Czech Republic always threatened with its powerful forward line, with Hlozek and Schick, two Bundesliga champions with Bayer Leverkusen. The first, with less presence in Xabi Alonso’s team, scored midway through the first half, but the VAR detected that he had done it with his arm. It was one of the few times that he did not run into Mamardashvili, who was huge between the posts, especially in a save from Schick’s shot just before the break. By then, just in the previous action, Georgia had already scored, which optimized its few forays into attack and reached the goal after a penalty signaled by the ball hitting the arm of the Czech center back Hranac. Mikautadze did not miss from eleven meters.
The game passed without much news from Kvaratskhelia, the Napoli star, who went through the game first excited and then exhausted. In reality, it was not an easy game for him either, concerned with covering spaces more than handling the ball in a context of pick and shovel for his team. Because the Czechs pushed. They went to the finish with a brood of soccer players charging the area. And they found the goal on a corner kick that Lingr headed against the post and Schick pushed into the net.
Georgia was hurt by the goal because shortly before it came close to scoring the second goal in a counterattack led by Kvaratskhelia that Mikautadze finished off without success. From there he felt that the tie wasn’t so bad either. The Czech push also gave him courage. There was more vigor than play in that stubbornness. And bad news when Schick had to leave injured, also looking very bad because a muscle injury in a calf when it comes to a short tournament like the Euro Cup is, in reality, a ticket to dry dock. The Czech Republic sought victory, but Georgia almost found it in the last play of the game, a counterattack against a determined rival. It wouldn’t have been fair either. But this is about points. Those that both teams will have to add on the last day of the group if they do not want to pack their bags.
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