Georgia’s victory over Portugal ensured that the red and whites advanced against all expectations to the playoffs. In the 11 friends podcast, experts praised the surprise.
European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
Listen to the latest episode of the 11 friends podcast below or from this link.
– No one believed that we would make it to the Games. Now they don’t even believe in us at the games. They say Georgia has no chance.
– Everyone says so. But, guess what I’m saying? Not a single Georgian was asked about it.
Georgia’s star player Khvitsha Kvaratskhelia words from the Players’ Tribune in the interview before the Games, the prediction has now come true.
The team, which advanced to the games through the reserve cartridge brought by the League of Nations, made history in its initial group. Georgia, which played without prejudice, beat Portugal, one of the favorites of the games, 2–0 in its last group game and marched into the knockout phase of the European Championship.
After the match, Georgians celebrated wildly and tears of joy ran down the cheeks of both players and spectators.
The team is the first tournament debutant in the play-off stage since the 2016 Games and Wales.
– After all, these kinds of stories are the salt of these games. Georgia entered the Games through the back door, after being in the lowest D basket in the League of Nations for a long time. This is what the football championships are all about, you almost get chills, Miika Nuutinen describes in Thursday morning’s episode of the 11 friends podcast.
– This tells about the extent of the level of European football and how authentic this national team football is. There are mistakes and coincidences. It is different when club football in Europe, which we follow during the winter, Nuutinen bundles.
– We need to lighten the mood a bit, because Georgia could have benefited from facing Portugal in their last group game. Still, the performances and even success of these particular underdogs against their bigger counterparts and the way they’ve played is the big deal of the Games. Not a low block and always surviving, but a bold, unique way of playing, Antti Pohja analyze.
Georgia will face an even tougher opponent than Portugal in the quarter-finals, when Spain, who won their first group with a clean game, will face them on Sunday, June 30 in Cologne.
Warning storm in Hamburg
At the same time, the most card-rich match in the history of the European Championship was played in Hamburg, when Turkey defeated the Czech Republic 2–1.
The match saw a total of 18 yellow cards and one sending off with a straight red. Referee István Kovács issued 11 warnings to Turkey alone.
The match ended after the final whistle in a big fight between the teams. Emotions ran high throughout the match, both on the field and in the stands.
– What was left unsaid by me earlier in the TV broadcast was that there was a pretty hot mood in the audience as well. During the first episode, there was some kind of mass fight. There were surprisingly fewer Turkish spectators with Czech fans in the same crowd. That’s why there was some confusion, Urheilu’s reporter who followed the match on the spot in Hamburg Jussi Vainikka told 11 friends.
The first outing in the match was already seen after twenty minutes of play. The Czech Republic Antonin Barak got his second warning and flew out, leaving his team in a tight spot. The exit was the fastest in EC history.
The outing also caused confusion.
– I was thinking, did the second yellow of that red card come quite poorly? I understand, but he was first on the ball and the leg didn’t go very high. In my opinion, in terms of the final result, it was an unreasonably big decision from the referee to give it so early, ‘s football expert Paulus Arajuuri ponders.
After the warning storm match, Turkey will face Austria in the playoffs on Tuesday, July 2 in Leipzig.
The European Football Championships will continue next Saturday, June 29. Listen to the latest episode of the 11 friends podcast predicting the playoff stage below or from this link.