Greece Salvages Points Against Upstart Georgia, 1-1 In Pireaeus

Speculation Georgia was one qualifying cycle away from being interesting proved conservative when Alexander Iashvili put the Georgians ahead in the third minute, a lead the visitors would keep for over an hour. It was enough time to convince onlookers that the speculated descent of Greece was continuing, while the young players Georgia's set to incorporate were paying premature benefits.

As is apt to happen in soccer, the story changed with one goal, a 72nd minute equalizer from Nikolaos Spiropoulos that would preserve a point for the former champions. Now the explaining begins.

Was this is the hint of a change?  Georgia's ascent mirroring Greece's descent, manifest in a 90 minute allegory? Or, was this a favored team adjusting to its first competitive match with a new coach?

For a hint, it's instructive to note that Greece got their goal shortly after bringing on two of their young players: Sotiris Ninis and Kostas Mitroglou.

Goals:

3' - Alexander Iashvili

72' - Nikolaos Spiropoulos

Discipline:

37' - Georgios Samaras (Yellow)

44' - Ucha Lobzhanidze (Yellow)

81' - Zurab Khizanishvili (Yellow)

83' - Avram Papadopoulos (Yellow)

Lineups:

Greece: Sifakis, Seitaridis (Miroglou 71'), Papadopoulos,  Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Spiropoulos, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Samaras (Ninis 59'), Gekas, Salpingidis

Georgia: Revishvili, Kobiashvili, Khizanishvili, Kaladze, Amisulashvili, Asatiani, Kvirkvelia, Lobzhanidze, Gogua (Merehasvili 87'), Iashvili (Ananidze 54'), Gelashvili (Dvalishvili 60')

Goals

3

Yossi Benayoun, Israel

1

Alexander Iashvili, Georgia
Ivica Olic, Croatia
Jamie Pace, Malta
Mladen Petric, Croatia
Nikoloas Spiropoulos, Greece
Darijo Srna, Croatia