Scotland v Georgia background
Monday, September 1, 2014
Article summary
Scotland beat Georgia 2-1 when the sides first met in Glasgow, and will look for another win as they face off again in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group D.
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Article body
The honours are even as Scotland prepare to take on Georgia for a third time, the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group D contenders having previously met in UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying.
Match background
• Scotland beat Georgia 2-1 when the sides first met in Glasgow on 24 March 2007, in what was Alex McLeish's first match in charge of the home side. Shota Arveladze – who had been a popular player in Glasgow with Rangers FC – scored the Georgia goal.
• Georgia won the return fixture on 17 October 2-0, with Levan Mchedlidze – then just 17 – scoring his first international goal before David Siradze's strike settled the result.
• Georgia's current coach Temur Ketsbaia knows Scottish football well, having spent the 2001/02 season as a midfielder with Dundee FC, the club where Scotland boss Gordon Strachan started his playing career.
• In seven UEFA age-group tournament meetings, Georgia have recorded five wins to Scotland's one, the nations meeting most recently in 2014/15 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying, Georgia winning 2-1 in Tbilisi and drawing 1-1 in the return fixture in Paisley.
• In the only meetings between the nations' clubs in UEFA competition, Celtic FC beat FC Dinamo Batumi 3-2 away and 4-0 at home in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
• Scotland opened their Group D campaign with a courageous 2-1 away defeat against world champions Germany, but won only one of their five 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying home games.
• Georgia, who lost 2-1 at home against the Republic of Ireland in their first Group D game, have not won in 19 competitive away games (D4 L15) since a 6-0 win in the Faroe Islands in an August 2006 European qualifier.
• Georgia midfielder Jano Ananidze turns 22 on the eve of the Scotland game.