Before the match against Croatian U-21 team in Euro qualifying 2013, Aleksandre Chivadze, head coach of Georgian national team, stated that his team will hold a match of principle.

-         23 football players were called up for the meeting. Nika Sabanadze, player of “Torpedo” Kutaisi, got injured in the first round of the national championship and he will not play in the upcoming match. 22 players are preparing for the match. 3 is goalkeeper. Two matches against Croatia and Estonia are left in the qualifying round. Tomorrow we will play a match of principle because Croatia and we have 6-6 points. If we do not lose to Croatia and play well against Estonia, we will take the third place in the group. It means that we will have a profitable opponent in the upcoming ballot.

-         Are the called up players physically prepared?

-         We had only two days for preparation. Some players have never played in the championship. For example, Nika Dzalamidze, he only played at Cup. The fifth round will be held in Croatian Championship on August 18. The first round was held at Georgian Championship. Davit Kokhia played at Russian Championship, Chanturia and Kazaishvili – at Dutch Championship, Skhirtladze – at Danish Championship. Tomorrow we will see how they are prepared. Our main goal is to keep playing form of the players. I am satisfied with their preparation.

-         How is the team balanced?

-         As you know, tomorrow the national team plays in Luxembourg. We could have called up Ananidze, Mchedlidze and Okriashvili but the national team is priority. I hoped that Irakli Shekiladze would have arrived but he started training now and asked us not to call him up. There will be a great competition in this team and everybody must do their best. Besides goalkeeper Begashvili born in 1991, other players were born in 1992-1993. In the first match against Croatia, 9 players were born in 1990. They will not participate in tomorrow’s match. A new team will play tomorrow.

-         What can you say about the opponent?

-         It is a quite strong team. It will be a match of principle.

-         Will the Georgian team play as No.1?

-         The match will show it. We will be orientated on result.

-         Who will be a captain?

-         You will know it in tomorrow’s match.

-         Georgians know Ivo Susak, head coach of the Croatian team, well. How do you think, what will he do against you?

-         I want to welcome Mr. Ivo. He attended the match of Georgian U-19 in Croatia. He has worked for “Dinamo” Tbilisi for many years. Georgian team beat Russians when he was head coach. When national teams play, no one has a right not to do his best. We will have a new team. Our team has perspective and we must go through the next round.

-         How do players playing in Georgia have different physical preparation from those playing abroad?

-         In national teams coaches cannot improve physical conditions of players. Player must come up to coach and tell him about his form.

-         What will be your tactic?

-         We played with the whole staff today. We will decide tactic.

-         Why did not you call up Kenia?

-         We called up Kenia. As you know, his contract with “Zenit” was not signed. I met Levan and he asked me not to call up him. Kenia is considered as one of the candidates of the national team.

Nika Dzalamidze, midfielder of youth team, attended the press conference. He made the following comment:

-         The team is in a good mood. In spite of that we lost chance of going through the next round, we will do our best to win the match. I held a good meeting with my team in Poland. I played at Cup and I am on form.

The match will take place on Mikheil Meskhi stadium and it will start at 20:00 Tbilisi time. Ticket price is 5 GEL.

Lasha Tabagari