Last week, match against Slovenia (2:1) was distinguished because Sandro Guruli had two debuts. This was the first match in the team for a forward of "Karpaty" Lviv and of course, it was his debut goal which he scored in the goal of Iasmin Handanovic at the 67th minute.
It was already said, that the first Georgian player who celebrated his debut match with a goal was Sandro's father. This happened on May 27, 1990, when "The Lelos" played against Lithuanian team (2:2) in the first international match. Besides Guruli, Kakha Kacharava scored his debut goal in that match.
After that, six Georgian players celebrated their debuts with goals. Three players managed to do it together on July 2, 1991. The national team visited Kishinov on that day and beat Moldavians 4:2. Temur Ketsbaia, current head coach of the team, scored the first goal in this match but it was his second team match. Other goals were debuts for Giorgi Daraselia, Mikheil Kavelashvili and Mikheil Jishkariani.
Another successful debut occurred after five years. The team of Vladimir Gutsaev played twice against Lebanese national team in Beirut. On December 5, 1996, both two goals scored by Georgians were debuts. Aleksandre Iashvili advanced his team at the 52nd minute. At the 67th minute, Giorgi Kiknadze increased difference. In spite of that, Georgian team lost (2:4) the 30th official match.
The 8th successful debut of Georgian player occurred on March 1, 2006 when the team of Klaus Toppmoller visited Malta and won 2:0. Otar Martsvaladze scored the first goal at the 9th minute. By the way, German head coach of Georgian team also had debut in this team - he headed Georgian national team for the first time.
One interesting detail. Father and son Gurulis are "older" than other Georgian players who had such debuts. Sandro was 25 years old and Gia - 26. The youngest was Mikheil Kavelashvili. He was about 20. Other debutant scorers were: Giori Kiknadze - 20, Mikheil Jishkariani - 21, Aleksandre Iashvili - 21, Otar Martsvaladze - 21, Giorgi Daraselia - 22, Kakha Kacharava - 23.


Phridon Kervalishvili