Euro 2024: Georgia and Czechs are Fighting for their Lives

Georgia vs Czech Republic

You will be able to cut the atmosphere with a knife at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg on Saturday when Euro 2024: Georgia vs Czech Republic comes to town.

Both nations arrived in Germany in good shape but they each suffered an opening round loss; and that pretty much makes this a must-win game. Willy Sagnol’s Georgia fought tooth and nail with Turkey before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat while Ivan Hasek’s Czechs were edged out 2-1 by the highly fancied Portugal. 

Defeat in this game will mean almost certain exit for the loser and a draw isn’t a lot of use to either at this stage: it’s high stakes…a must-win.       

 

Talking Points

Sagnol remains optimistic

Georgia’s charismatic head coach Willy Sagnol was glowing in his praise of his team after they fell to Turkey in a candidate for the ‘best match of the tournament’ so far. The European newcomers certainly played with ambition and bravery: “I think when you lose it’s never nice,” said Sagnol in his post match interview. “I think we have given such a nice, nice image of Georgian football. We can be proud of that. We had a lot of opportunities to score, but that’s football.”

Georgia went down to an early Mert Muldur goal but they fought back, as Georges Mikautadze scored his nation’s first ever tournament goal with a superb volley. After Turkey regained the lead, thanks to a stunner from Arda Guler, Georgia threw everything at it, Giorgi Kochorashvili hitting the crossbar, before Turkey scored a breakaway to give the score line a rather uneven look. Sagnol was philosophical; saying: “To get out of the group of course you can have this goal. Georgia is still in a very important phase of development and competitions like that should help.”     

The star quality comes from Napoli’s 23-year-old winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for Georgia and was a vital part of Napoli’s 2023 Scudetto triumph. He had a relatively quiet game against the Turks but we expect Kvaratskhelia to be in the midst of the Georgia vs Czech Republic highlights on Saturday.  

 

Czechs must impose themselves 

With a well established team, a much higher FIFA ranking (33^rd to Georgia’s 85^th) and a strong and powerful set of players, Hasek’s men need to step up on Saturday. The pre-match Georgia vs Czech Republic betting odds certainly say they should win, but they need to grab this game by the scruff of the neck and not let go!  

The Czechs pushed Portugal all the way in their opener but were undone by an injury time winner from Francisco Conceicao. The underdogs had gone ahead thanks to a brilliant strike from Lukas Provod after good work from Vladimir Coufal. With three quarters of the game gone it looked like the Czechs could pull off a shock win, but an own goal from Robin Hranac opened the door for the Selecao and Conceicao broke Czech hearts. Hasek, a playing legend with the Czech Republic, said: “I have to admit it is a big pity that we did no finish our work. We made it very difficult for Portugal, one of the best teams in the world. We are disappointed to have conceded in additional time. We have to put it behind us very quickly as in four days time we play a key game.”    

Skippered by West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek and with Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrick Schick up front this is a team with plenty of height and power. Soucek is a defensive midfielder with a serious goal threat at set pieces, while Schick has scored 19 goals in 39 internationals and they will both look to dominate on Saturday.   

 

History

This is the first time these two teams have met and it’s sure to be a cracker with so much at stake.

In terms of recent form the Czech Republic had five consecutive wins before their loss to Portugal while Georgia went into their opening match on the back of three victories, one draw and one defeat.    

 

Betting Tip

The Czechs are strong favourites to win this game at a price of 1.76, while Georgia are at 4.45 and the draw is priced at 3.48.  

All of the Czech Republics last six games have produced more than two goals while Georgia’s games have exceeded two on five out of six, all but a 2-0 win over Luxembourg. I expect goals again on Saturday and, for a long shot, you can get SBOTOP odds of 7.33 on a 2-1 win for Czech Republic.

   

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