| Alexander Chivadze took over as Georgian national team manager initially on a temporary basis after the disasterous 4-1 defeat to Hungary meant Revaz Dzodzuashvili and David Kipiani stepped down. Chivadze's first match in charge was the return fixture against Hungary and expectation from the Georgian fans was not high. However Chivadze inspired the team to defeat Hungary 3-1 thanks to goals from Shota Arveladze, Gocha Jamarauli and Alexander Iashvili. Chivadze's next match in charge was against Lithuania in Tbilisi and Georgia won again thanks to two late goals from Alexander Iashvili. The final match of the World Cup qualifying campaign was the real test to see how good Chivadze really was. Romania had defeated Georgia 2-0 in Tbilisi only a few months previously but Georgia completely outplayed Romania and were unlucky to only draw 1-1. After the Romania Chivadze had intended to step down to make way for a new manager but the players and fans both wanted Chivadze to stay on and managed to convince him to stay on as manager. Was replaced as national team manager by Croatian Ivo Susak and he returned to his role as the GFF Vice President. |
